Young Justice: Origins
by anonymous1845
Summary: Picking up where Revolution left off, new young heroes get their start. Brought to you by the Young Justice Revolution group.
1. Cyborg

**Story by Darksuperboy**

**Written by Zor-Alov**

_S. . Labs_

_December 31st, 2016_

_9:42pm PST_

Even on New Years, the lead scientests of the cybernetics didn't catch a break. Toiling away in front of computer screens, after some hours the data had numingly flown bye to the point it was becoming a blur. Doctors Silas Stone and Serling Roquette had the chore of overseeing the results for upgrades on the latest batch of XTR battle suits. The holidays weren't an adequate excuse when military forces around the world are demanding the immediate shipment of over 2000 new suits. XTRs now guarded most military facilities and political structures across the globe.

Roquette and Stone had laboriously working on modifcations in the main S.T.A.R. Labs facility on the west coast. These new upgrades were a last minute order from the top (Luthor), to be implemented in the latest batch of XTRs. Amidst a computer lab strewn with empty water bottles and pizza boxes with straggling pieces, the two doctors crunched away.

After the long couple days they've had, the last stretch was the longest part yet... that little circling icon as the last bits of data loaded. It was then in a instant, that the modifications were confirmed as complete. The two leaned back in their desk chairs and sighed with relief.

"Ahhh... nothing like computing a year's worth of work in less than two weeks." Roquette said with her usual disposition, while cracking her sore knuckles.

Doctor Stone got up and tried getting the circulation back into his tired legs. "Told you we'd finish before eleven!"

"Sure. But then Monday it's back to the next order of suits... and the next one... and the..."

"I get the picture, Serling" Silas said with annoyance.

"It's bad enough we've been turned into a sweat shop by the UN, with these XLR suits... but we don't even get an explaination for why we had to drop the few vacation days we had to get this stupid batch modified!"

"I know it's not the ideal way to spend the holidays, but everyone's on edge Serl. And the demand for security keeps pushing every available lab to mass produce them."

"Sure, us wage slaves don't want to end up like Dr. Irons!" A sore topic between the two now raised. Ever since John Henry Irons' detainment without trial by the Alien Oversight Committee, the two butted heads over their support of the government. Especially since his designs were being pushed as the only product of research now at S.T.A.R. Labs and every other major facility.

"Whatever happened to Irons is not our business, Serling, our job is keep people safe with cutting edge techno..."

"Terrorists are out of fashion, now the government can throw around the fear of _ALIENS_ to let them do whatever they want! At this rate, I think my New Year's resolution should be to tell Luthor where he can..."

Before she could tell Luthor where to shove her two-weeks notice, she caught a glance from a tired and agitated Doctor Stone. He just didn't have enough energy at the moment to get into another loud and heated discussion.

"Yeah. Sorry."

"Look, I know it's been rough with the workload, and we've been at each other's throats. So how about we just call it a night, we'll start refreshed and civil come next year?"

"_sigh_... Deal."

Silas then grabbed a remaining slice of pizza and took a bite, as Roquette grabbed her bag.

"If anything else, I'll be getting back earlier than Rick was expecting" Serling than added, with the faintest smile.

"I'm sure you two will find something to do before the ball drops..."

Just then the phone rang back at their work desks. Silas rubbed his neck answered with a greasy slice of pizza in hand.

"Hello?"

"I know it's late, sorry to disturb you sir" a gruff security guard said on the other end, "but... the front desk say's your son is here to see you."

"Oh No" it was then he realized why they were able to get work done so early. Silas screwed up the days and missed something very important earlier in the afternoon.

"It's okay, Tyreese. Let him in." Silas hung up with a sigh and a heavy head as he stood over his desk. He was not exactly ready for another round with his son the star quarterback.

"It wasn't today... was it?" Roquette asked after overhearing Silas. He didn't even nod or respond, just stood there dejected. "Oh, here we go again."

A few minutes later, his son stormed into the lab and marched over.

"WHY AM I NOT SUPRISED!"

"Victor, I swear to god I'm sorry..."

"No, sorry ain't gonna cut it DAD!" Vic seethed with anger as he slammed down a football on his father's workspace. "You realize how embarassing it is, waitin up for you while everyone else managed to make it for the celebration!? But then you weren't even there for the big game... why should you bother to..."

"Victor, I'm sorry! I know it's not an excuse, but I just mixed up the dates and got lost in the work. They'll be other Victor-ee Parties..."

"THAT'S NOT THE POINT!"

Roquette knew to keep a wide distance between these two as she readied to head home.

"The worst part is... I ACTUALLY BELIEVED YOU THIS TIME! ACTUALLY BELIEVED I MATTERED A DAMN TO YOU, COMPARED TO YOUR _WORK_!"

"THAT'S ENOUGH, VICTOR!" Silas snapped and accosted his son.

"IT'S NEVER ENOUGH DAD! YOU'VE BEEN DOING THIS TO ME EVER SINCE HIGH SCHOOL! EVER SINCE MOM..."

"DON'T YOU GOD DAMN GO THERE, VIC!" his father interrupted with a raised finger to his son's face. The two bitterly stared each other down, tempers flaired and the tension could be cut. But before they could go any further... a call came up on the computer. Roquette rushed over and answered it. UN secretary Lex Luthor appeared on the screen.

"Doctor Roquette, this is a priority call my dear. Where's..."

"I'm... I'm right here Mr. Luthor" Silas then hurried over, composing himself and trying to appear calm, while Victor grudingly held his tongue. "What's going on?

"I'm ordering an emergency alert, Doctor Stone. Eject all the power cells from the XTRs in your facility!" Luthor said in his stern composure.

"What? On what basis..."

"This is serious, Doctor. All currently mobilized XTRs are being ordered grounded, but it's vital the new line of suits at your facility are shut down."

Roquette angrily interrupted "We'll need a lot more than that to go on if you expect us to drop everything and..."

For once Luthor lost his calculated demeanor and screamed back "DO IT!"

The signal cut out then, Lex hanging up on that order. The two scientests were speechless, even Victor was a little nervous, and he barely understood most of the stuff that went on at S.T.A.R.

"I'll, ah... get right on that then." Roquette said with hesitation. She was more afraid of Luthor than she'd like to admit despite her earlier rant about him. As she started activating the program on the computer, Victor sighed and turned back to his son. With both matters at hand, he didn't really know how to handle the situation.

"Victor, I... I need to work, son. Can we talk about this later?"

"Whatever" his son said while shaking his head, with a tone of indignation. He turned ready to storm off, but then his father lightly grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Son, please... I'm sorry. If you could just stay and give me a second. I'll be able to give you a ride back home and we can talk about this. Really talk about this."

Victor saw his father's tired look, his eyes held this expression while mixed with remorse. His anger subsided, and he grudgingly tempered his tongue. "Fine. Just, go save the world or whatever... I'll be waitin."

Silas took that to heart and raced over to join Dr. Roquette at the computer terminal on their desks. Victor sat back on one of the stools in the work area of the lab, with his arms crossed and a lot of built up anger he was not steadied.

Roquette had already activated her part of the access code, just as a restricted button opened up from the other end of the panel. Silas then entered his code and unlocked the full entry to the desktop button. He then took a key out of his pocket and locked it into position next to the button. With uneasiness he turned the ket to initiate the power cell ejection process. The lab screens beeped with warning messages. But orders were orders. Serling then watched and monitored the sequence, as Dr. Stone then pressed the button and launched the power cell ejections.

All across the area were the XTR suits were held, in a lab at the other end of the facility, cells were ejected by computer command and with machine-operated arms. The process took several minutes, with over 2000 suits. Eventually the time read  
9:58 on Serling's terminal as she watched the ejection process. The doctors were totally in the dark as to what would drive Luthor to sanction such a cautionary measure. The data they spent days to process indicated no issues. And yet here they were. As they watched and maintained the sequence, Victor stood back and gave his day room. But even he felt some uneasiness, a gut feeling he had that something must be really wrong.

A minute later the sequence was about to complete... when an ERROR message flashed across Serling's screen.

"What the... something's malfunctioning." Roquette urgently told Silas, he then typed in and got a read on it.

"One of the last suits isn't responding!" Silas said.

Serling took a look and accessed the security feed into the lab area. "Damn it, there's some kind of jam blocking the arm! The cell won't eject."

A mechanical failure made it impossible for a computer-run ejection sequence. Silas picked up the phone and called in security. "This is Doctor Stone, can we get maintenance down to the XTR holding lab. There's some kind of malfunction with the power cells, and we need to manually..."

_10:00pm PST (MIDNIGHT ON THE EAST COAST)_

Just then the computer screens phased on and off for a second, like a glitch.

"What the" Serling said aloud, thinking she pressed the wrong button. Everyone in the lab felt a slight tremble, the surrounding area shook like a barely registering earthquake.

Victor bolted to his feet from the trembling. "Do you hear that?"

The two doctors listened in, hearing a faint booming noise. Almost like thunder. Then nothing, it and the trembling passed as quickly as it came.

"Whatever that hell that was..." Silas said with the phone still in hand. He then got right back to the matter at hand with the suits. "Sorry. Like I was saying, can we get..."

"Already on it, sir" the voice on the other end then stated.

The monitor with the lab feed showed a S.T.A.R. labs maintenance worker manually trying to eject the power cell from the last suit.

"I guess those were fireworks or something" Serling then said with apprehension, not exactly sure herself as she turned to speak to Victor.

"Is New Years, Eastcoast anyway. But, I don't know it sounded... HOLY SH..."

Victor freaked out as he turned his attention to the screen. Serling and his father then watched in horror with Vic at the sight on the screen. The suit had activated remotely... and grabbed hold of the maintenance guy by his throat. Victor couldn't believe what he was seeing on the feed... the XTR protracted two long blades from it's arm, and gutted the poor man. The feed then cut out as the suit ripped off it's restraints and leapt down onto the ground floor of the lab.

"I'm not getting any response!" Serling yelled as she tried to determine a problem on the computer, but she was frozen out from the suit. And with the feed gone it could be doing anything at this point.

Silas activated security alarms. Sirens flared and armed guards burst into the room. "It's in the holding lab, shoot on sight!" Doctor Stone ordered, as they secured the lab and raced over to a large set of heavy metal doors, the entry point between the main lab and the XTR holding area.

No sooner did they arrive, that the doors started to be smashed in, by a pair of fists. The security guards were locked and loaded, while Victor and Silas stepped back for safety. As Serling furiously tried to gain access back to the suit, hoping it wasn't hijacked from some outside source, the doors to the holding area burst open with an explosive round.

The S.T.A.R. guards opened fire. The suit stepped forward unphased and robotically, as a piercing single red eye stared them all down from it's visor. They could see right off the bat no one was inside at the controls, something was seriously wrong but nothing their weapons did made a dent. It stopped and turned it's head. Starting straight at the computer terminal.

Silas realized this and grabbed Serling, still impatiently trying to get back into the systems. He shoved away to safety out of her desk chair, just as the suit opened fire on their computer station. The console exploded and sent Doctor Stone flying. He smashed into another computer across the way, injured and barely moving.

"DAD!"

The suit moved slowly closer towards Silas, as his son picked him up and tried to get him back to his feet.

"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR, KILL IT!" Serling yelled back as she tried to attend to Silas. The guards continued opening fire. The suit then switched it's attentions to them as a primary threat. The bullets bounced off, but then it raised an arm and unleashed a high pitched noise. The guards were phased, but then shrugged it off when it stopped and continued firing on the suit. Unfortunatly, something was wrong with their guns... the bullets were warped and wouldn't fire down the barrels.

The suit then unleashed missiles and blasted the guards. The entire lab was rocked by the explosion, as they raced for cover and fell back. They let loose laser-based weaponry now, while the suit moved ever closer to the scientests armed with machine artillary and more rocket-propelled missles.

Victor and Serling help Silas up and drag him out amidst the firefight. Into the hallway they hurry into an ajoining lab, while more guards race past them into the main lab where the battle is commencing. The lights flicker as the explosions continue.

In the lab, Serling and Victor set Silas done as he begins to come to. Suddenly another explosion rips apart the lab they just escaped from. A fireball rips out into the hallway, as the guards are strewn about the floor unconcious... or worse. Victor peers out the doorway and spots the slow but deadly suit coming.

"Get the blast doors or something!" he yells to Roquette, who then races over to a panel and activates just that. But when Victor tries to hurry back to his father, whose still badly injured but trying to stand... a missile hurtles straight at him. The blast doors try to shut as it zooms past and smashes into the hallway. Victor tries to run, but the explosion tears apart the facility inches away from him, he's caught in a horrific blast that is barely contained by the blast doors.

_AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH_

Doctor Stone and Roquette look in horror as Victor lies bloody and charred on the floor, imbedded with shrapnel in his chest.

"Jesus no!" Silas screams as he hurries over to his son, while the blast doors lock their armor plating. A puddle of blood expands across the room, as Victor struggles for life. Silas can barely touch him without the puncture wounds in his chest bleeding even faster thanks to the multiple bits of metal.

Silas is in no way a medical doctor, nor is Serling as she tears apart the lab trying to find medical supplies to help. All the while a fierce pounding on the door comes from the otherside, the renegade suit trying to break in. There's no time left for his son, he can't try to extract this much shrapnel without killing him. He'll die if doesn't try however, the third degree burns and bleeding aren't helping. Silas is at a loss for words, as he looks down at his son's charred and mangled body, bleeding and missing most of his limbs.

He surveys the room while holding his son in his arms, delicatly trying to pick him up off the floor. Just then he spots a machine at the far end... no. He goes over it in his head, and he realizes it would be too risky. Too dangerous. Untested and possibly... possibly...

Silas glances back at his boy as he struggles for breath, coughing up blood as half his face is burnt off. Silas has no choice.

He quickly picks his son up.

"ROQUETTE, help me!"

She takes off her labcoat and wraps it around Victor's limbs to try and stop the bleeding, however futily.

"God, Silas... what do we do!? That thing's trying to break in..."

"Just shut up and help me get him in_ there_."

She grabs hold of Victor and hurries him over with Doctor Stone to a large metal table on the far end of the lab, thats connected to large cylindrical machine. She realizes in horror what Silas is thinking of doing.

"Silas, Silas we can't put him in that!"

"What choice do I... DO WE HAVE!?" he says to her while struggling to strap Victor down, whose loosing conciousness from the bleeding and lack of oxygen. Outside the XTR continues trying to break in.

Silas races over to activate a digital panel on the table with his one good hand, as his other was burnt from the earlier explosion.

"SILAS, WE CAN'T PUT HIM IN THERE! WE HAVEN'T TESTED THIS THING ON ORGANIC TISSUE YET!"

He turns back to Roquette while further restraints begin to activate and hold the dying Victor down on the table.

"PROJECT: GOLIATH was originally created for this exact purpose, Serling! The nanobots will repair Victor, at least enough until reinforcements can arrive and contain the situation, then we can get him to hosp..."

An explosion is heard outside, along with gunfire. The doctors turn to hear the mayhem, as the XTR continues to try and break in.

"I DON'T HAVE TIME TO ARGUE, SERLING! EITHER HELP ME SAVE MY SON OR GET OUT OF MY WAY!"

Roquette shakes her head, knowing how bad an idea this is. But she moves in and helpes prepare the sequence for intiation.

Project Goliath was an untested experiment, to use a machine that injects lifeforms with a nanite solution. A blend of nanoscopic machines combined from the "FOG" cloud swarm Roquette first created, and extracted nanobots from Blue Beetle's bloodstream. Designed originally to instantly repair and rebuild severe injuries like the ones sustained by Victor, it was retasked for soldiers. In the intent that the same process could not only rebuild wounded soldiers, but boost endurance and fitness using the reverse-engineered nanobots.

"Daa...d-daaa..." Victor struggled for words, while reaching out to his father with his only hand left. His arm struggled for reach, but his father held it while finalizing the machine to begin the sequence.

"It's okay, Victor... It's all going to be okay."

"What...w-w-hhhaaa..." he groaned with a strained breath, as the casing formed around the table.

"This is going to save you... just hold..." Victor said tohis son to try and ease his discomfort, as the casing sealed over him. Victor and the table were lifted up into the right position, as it was sealed like a pod into the machine.

The gunfire began to dwindle outside, leaving a dead silence that Roquette found much more terrifying. The silence was shattered by Victor's screams of pain and agony. It was painful enough for the dying Victor, but it the process hadn't even fully started yet. It was about to get worse.

"It's now or never, Silas." Roquette said, with the faintest hope that the silence outside meant reinforcements had arrived and could save Victor without such drastic...

And then the thudding sound of pounding metal fists started up again, this time making a dent. Silas gave Roquette the nod to begin. There was no going back now.

With a heavy sigh, Serling typed in the sequence and activated the full systems of the machine. The injectors within extended into the pod, through the casing. Victor was half-passed out, but already on edge and terrified. Then the needles pierced his flesh, his screams were ear-piercing. Silas gulped and felt his heart sink into his chest as his son's unnerving screams pierced the lab. Roquette strepped back in horror at what was being down. As they looked on, the nanoscopic bots were coursing through his body, rebuilding blood, organ, tissue, bone... at the molecular level. It was as painful a process as any imagined.

Amidst his screams, the thudding outside continued, now joined by strange noises outside the facility itself. The scientests could feel the ground shaking, they faintly heard amidst Victor's screams explosions on a larger scale in the sky above, the return of that booming sound heard twenty minutes prior.

Just then, Roquette turned and with a shriek saw two piercing red blades slash through the door. The claw like daggers cut through the sheer metal of the blast door, forming an entrance way for the suit. If this wasn't bad enough, Victor's vitals on were reading off the chart. Something was wrong. What was suppose to be a complete body reconstruction... was becoming an assimilation. The swarms were progressed much faster than anticipated, so that much more painfully. The metal of the nanobots were combininig, not just repairing injuries but binding to the bone and tissue. Victor's screams were ungodly and unbearable.

Then just like that, the machine crashed. Vitals had flatlined. Victor had passed out midprocess.

"No... VICTOR... WAKE! UP! SON, YOU CAN DO THIS!"

Silas pounded on the pod, shocked and in denial, while Roquette watched the blades of the renegade XTR inch closer to opening the blast doors. Silas was going to let his son die, but he kept pounding away trying to awaken his son. Nothing.

He fell to his knees, begging Victor to wake. Tears rolled down his cheeks and as hopelessly begged, completely disarmed from the situation with the suit. He didn't care anymore.

Roquette tried to shake Silas back to reality, when the suit finally bursted through the blastdoors through the hole it carved. Silas had his hand firmly on the case, while Roquette back away from the approaching death machine. Into the far corner she fled, Silas wouldn't move. He sat with his knees on the ground next to what he presumed... was the coffin he encased his son into.

From the suit's single red eye, it tracked the priority target of Roquette. Orders and data flowed past him as a strange symbol overid all commands and programs set in place into the suit. Like a virus it controlled the suit like a mindless automaton, as it slowly approached Roquette, which now aimed it's machine guns at her. Serling tried to arm herself with a nearby piece of metal pipe. She wasn't no Robin, but she learned how to hold weapons like a Bo after her run-in with the assassins. She nervously stood her ground in the corner, as the suit suddenly stopped and turned to Doctor Stone. It scanned the area after this latest developement, addressing new priorities.

_**PRIMARY TARGET IDENTIFIED.**_

_**STONE, SILAS... HUMAN. PRIMARY SCIENTEST, ACCESS TO XTR OVERRIDES...**_

_**HIGHER PRIORITY TARGET.**_

_**RECTIFY**_

A faint vital bleeped on the machine unnoticed.

The suit unleashed it's twin retracable blades, heated red and blazing hot. It moved ever closer, now aimed at Victor as it slowly turned and came in for the kill. Roquette watched in terror as Stone refused to move, to budge, to even acknowledge he was about to die. He just sat there. His backed turned to the pounding footsteps of the renegade suit.

The XTR then lingered right over Stone, it's shadow cast over him and the pod.

The suit then raised it's arm, ready to strike and plunge it's blades right into Doctor Stone's back. The blades glowed blood red now, burning hot. In a swift motion the suit lunged to stab...

As quickly as it struck, something even quicker pierced it's way out of the pod casing. Roquette saw as an arm smashed it's way out of the machine. It smashed through the sheer metal of the containment, and right clean through the suit itself. In the heat of the moment, the blades turned dead silver, cold hard metal again. Silas looked up in shock, unaware of what just happened in so quick an instant. The blade arm went limp and the living weapon fell over to the ground. Silas watched the suit topple behind him, crumbling to pieces like a knight's armor toppled over. It's single red eye shuttered off and died. Electircity fizzed and shortcircuited. After seeing the fuel cells dissapate and leak out the hole in it's chest, not unsimilar to a pool of blood, he turned his head up to look back at the case. He then jumped to his feet and stepped back, while the arm that saved him retreated back inward to the rest of the body it belonged to.

Roquette cautiously stepped forward. But as Silas looked into the case, at the being that began to step out of it... she got a good look at it. She gasped and put her hands over her mouth in shock at the sight before her. Doctor Stone didn't have words to articulate what he could possibly say... to his son.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?" a ghastly and almost electronic voice spoke.

_**What did you do to me?**_

_**Dad... what did you do to me?!**_

_**Why didn't you let me die... **_

_**WHY DIDN'T YOU LET ME DIE!?**_

Victor woke up with gasp. He jolted up in bed, looking around to see he was in a darkened hospital room. The heart monitor beside him began to fade back to normal, after it appeared to be loud and racing. He touched his face... and felt cold steel. The left side was clad in armor now, and a bright red eye. Touching it brought him back to the unfortunate reality. This wasn't a dream.

_January 18th, 2017_

_10:16 am PST_

_3 Weeks Later_

He turned his head, now that he was awake, to see doctors in the observation room behind the glass. Some old some old as it's been for the last couple weeks. He could hear distant voices though, he could hear them through the glass if he focused somehow. They were altered and syntheized like a computer, but Victor couldn't understand how he did it, like automatic translate program. It was agonizing and one of many uncontrollable functions he had to adjust to.

He turned back around to see Roquette and his father. Silas activated a microphone.

"Victor, is everything alright?"

"It's... no... no dad, it's not. I tired of being in here" Victor spoke now with a almost electronic voice blended in with his normal speech patterns.

"I know that, Victor... but we need to do more..."

"NO." Victor then tried to get out off the bad.

"Victor, please, don't move... you need to just calm down."

"What I need" he said while ripping the straps off his lower body, "Is to GET. OUT... OF THIS ROOM"

He struggled to adjust, as he ripped off the cover. The doctors looked on in horror as two cyborg legs slammed down onto the floor. The rest of his torso was a blend of cybernetics grafted into his flesh on the majority of his body.

Cooped up for so long, Victor hadn't even gotten the chance to walk or adjust, but it felt cold and numb. Hard metal replaced the normal synapses and senses. He screamed as he moved with his new limbs, grinding on him as it felt like machinery tore him apart at the bone level.

He spent must of the three weeks in and out of conciousness. But Victor didn't sleep anymore.

He turned to see the looks on all their faces, he was a monster in their eyes. Except to his father, from which he only saw what could be described relief mixed with disappointment.

"WHAT I NEED IS MY REAL LEGS BACK, DAD!"

He limped over to the glass as the doctors backed away

"LOOK WHAT YOU DID TO ME!" he roared as he pounded on the glass with metal fists. As the glass cracked, the nurses then entered and tried to calm Victor down. But Vic howled in frustration and pushed them off him as they tried to force him back into bed.

In a panic, everyone rushed aside as he burst threw the door. Victor stormed out in a rage and began to slowly build up speed as he moved down the hall, while doctors called for security and nurses screamed in horror. Patients looked on in shock and ran for cover. Victor felt like they were about to ready the torches and pitchforks, it was a nightmare that only fueled his anger even greater.

Silas grabbed his cellphone and began to dial as he stayed a distance behind his son, just trying to make sure he didn't get hurt.

Victor's speed increased from stift limbing into full on running, as armed security rounded the corner.

"Halt!" They yelled with an order, but Victor passed right on by them, pushing them aside like players in a football tackle. They slammed into both walls with sheer force. Victor turned back to see the raw power he could unleash, he was afraid of his own strength. A look of disgust came over him as he saw the unconcious security guards, then looked down at his arms and hands. He then continued to run, trying to avoid bystanders and staff, he didn't want to hurt anyone else.

Victor ran and ran, misjudging his own speed. He began reaching levels not even he matched on the field, speeds no normal human could reach as he learned the hard way... when he crashed straight through a window while trying to turn a corner.

He flew smashing out the window of the 16th floor.

Defenestration was not his favorite word at the moment.

In a jolt of energy and tension, Victor landed feet first on the ground with a hard smash. He could feel the joints and gears, his new metal muscles as he took the shock of the landind. He formed a crater in his wake, but was left uninjured to his suprise. He was terrified and panicked. Victor didn't know what to do as he crawled out of the hole he made in the hospital parking lot. He took a few steps and leaned on the side of an Ambulance, as everyone around him fled at the sight of him. He sighed in remorse at what has become of him.

"It's all right, Victor" a voice than said above him. Vic looked up in terror, as his cybernetic eye zoomed in and scanned, to his disbelief a flying individual in a cape.

Superman.

"Everything's going to be okay."

10:27 am PST

Several minutes later, Victor was back in his observation room, sitting on his bed. It was slightly bent due to the holding weight of his new body. He just zoned up, still grasping the situation, while Superman was present and talking to his father.

"Project Goliath was suppose to heal your son?"

"In theory yes, the military only funded in when data indicated it could be used to increase strength for combat troops in addition to healing them. But, but this was unforseeable. The nanites, istead of repairing or boosting my son's body... they combined into him. Almost like a cybernetic symbiote, they attached themselves to Victor at the submolecular level. The majority of his limbs and organs became techno-organic, rather than just being rebuilt. The nanobots by themselves would dissolve into the bloodstream after repairing, but at this point they are fused and will be impossible to remove for the forseeable time being."

Silas turned and put a hand to his son's right shoulder, one of the few flesh and blood parts still remaining. He remained still and stoic.

"The metal shrapnel, it must have triggered the error in the nanobot repair process" Silas continued as he looked upon his son.

"So then instead of just repairing common bone and tissue" Superman theorized as he stood before the two, "they made improvements based on the metal also in his body. A synthesis of man and metal that forced them to permenatly fuse in order to complete the repair process"

"That about sums our best guess up" Silas disparringly admitted.

Victor sat through the whole conversation looking at his hands. At that moment, he then clenched them into fists and threw his father's arm aside as he dragged himself up to stand.

"Easy, Victor." Superman held his hands up, trying to calm him down. Victor stared at his father with a scorned and rage-fueled expression. Hot-tempered and angry, he paced from side to side of the hospital room.

"Is this what it took to get your attention... to become another one of your EXPERIMENTS!?"

"Victor, I wasn't going to lose you. I only did what I thought I could do to save you"

"SAVE ME! There's barely anything left to save." His electronic voice strained him, and made him just the more angrier about the situation.

"There weren't any other options, what with that H.A.R.D.A.C. killing machine trying to break in..."

"The what? You mean that XTR thing?"

Silas then realized his son didn't know the full details of what went down, due to being in and out of it.

"We thought they were built to self-destruct during the invasion. But it seems that those suits had a hidden program in their subroutines" Superman explained, "designed to activate during the invasion. A rogue AI called H.A.R.D.A.C."

Superman tried to explain to Victor that this AI, which was believed to have been destroyed seven years ago by Batman, stored itself away in software fragments later used by an assistant to the project that created it. That assistant was John Henry Irons, the creator of the XTR suits. Lexcorp found the AI, and weaponized it to aide in the invasion rather than destroying it or altering the public. Irons caught on, but was arrested to be silenced. If not for Luthor's change of heart, the H.A.R.D.A.C. program would have taken control of all the suits and destroyed the mobilized Earth forces in the heat of battle.

After this lengthy exposition brought him back to the present, and back to what happens next with him. His father's experiment caused the explosion that nearlly killed him, and drove his father to turn him into another experiment. An even worse abomination.

"You can forget football... or the University. I can't walk down a hall without people running in terror from me! It hurts to move... to talk and breath... I see numbers and data in me, and it's tearing my head apart!"

"Son, I..."

"GET OUT!" Victor screamed, as his voice crackled like a failed computer signal, and his cybernetic eye blazed fiery red. Silas held his face in his palms in sadness, then with a look of remorse at his son he turned and left the room. Superman could only watch this all unfold, standing there as the unfortunate audience to this melodrama.

"I know it's probably not my place to say this, Victory. But you shouldn't be so hard on your father."

"Your right, Superman...it isn't. All he cared about was work, stupid machines. Now I'm just another one of those damn metal monstrosities... HOW CAN YOU EVEN UNDERSTAND WHAT HE DID!?"

"He cares about you Victor. It's hard to understand that now, but he does. During everything that was going on with the invasion, the government was overrun and we barely had the manpower for the League to respond at the scene. iaf you father hadn't tried what he did, then you would have died Victor. No other away around that."

Victor mournfully had to lower his head, forced to acknowledge that fact.

"If he hadn't of called us earlier today things could have gotten really bad. He risked his life and his job to save you, he cares enough to only want to protect you."

What Superman didn't bring fully up is that the League protected his father from questioning by the authorities about the experiment on his son. It was enough for any other situation to end in his criminal imprisonment, or worse the termination of Victor. But the League stepped in as Silas risked everything to protect him. Given that the superheroes jsut saved the whole word, the government took the League's word for it and let the situation slid under the rug.

Superman then put a hand to Victor's shoulder, and with the calmest and most respectful voice he'd heard from the man of steel "Believe me, I know eaxctly what it's like Victor. To have a father risk everything... to save the life of his son."

"You really do, don't you?" Victor replied back with his synthetic voice. The two connected in that short moment, as Victor began to start feeling less angry and depressed.

"I just... I just don't know if I can still forgive him" Victor then said as he looked into the nearby mirror, "Just yet anyways"

"I understand, Victor... this will still take alot of adjustment. But what you need to do now is try to get back to having a life. It's time you got out of this hospital room."

"What kind of life is that? Look at me."

"Deep down your the same man, just with a few new adjustments."

"I just don't want to hurt anyone, Superman. Live in peace, away from... all this"

"Then I think I can help you in both departments, Victor. I know somewhere with a bunch you'd fit right in."

For the first time in weeks, Victor laughed out loud at the idea of it. "Oh yeah, as if."

"Two of them are green, one can breath underwater, another's an orange space warrioress, and not to mention there's my teenage clone with a super-enhanced pet Wolf."

Victor stood there at a loss for words while trying to comprehend that mental picture.

"Trust me, you'll fit in fine"

_Hall of Justice_

_January 20th, 2017_

_3:04 pm EST_

A few days passed, as Victor composed himself mentally and further adjusted to his limbs. By then he met up with Superman and Zeta Tubed to Washington. The transportation experience was a rush, especially as he was now half-machine.

He metal feet thudded on the marble floor with each step, as he walked out of the tubes alongside Superman. He followed him into the training room, past memorobelia and computers in the newly rebuilt Hall of Justice.

To Victor's amazement, he looked upon some of the most famous heroes right in front. He only saw a handful of their heroics on televison, and now here they were.

In the sparring ring was Robin and Wondergirl, practicing fighting styles with fancy footwork and powerful moves. Punches and kicks that could have pulverised normal people like he once was. Over in another corner was Superboy, lifting mega weights with one arm. To his side was Miss Martian using telekinesis on a sandbag as a bright orange warrior flew above her and pounded away at it. Starfire.

Artemis and Blue Beetle were off to the side, standing back to back whilst shooting fast moving targets in midair. Artemis with her trusty bow, and Beetle with his hand dandy arm cannon. Victor thought that looked real cool.

"Hate to interrupt training everyone, but there's someone here I thought you'd like to meet!" Superman called them all over as they spotted the young man standing before them.

They all took a glance to him and dropped everything to head on over. This was pretty intense, Victor was face to face with the Justice League's greatest new heroes.

"Well hello, then. It's nice to meet you" M'gann charmingly greeted Victor, as the rest of the heroes exchanged helloes and other assorted greetings. He took a liking to Robin and Wondergirl, and even with his new cybernetic hands, Starfire and Superboy's grips were extremely strong.

"Welcome to the clubhouse, ahh..." Artemis tried to ask, not realizing he might not want to use his real name.

Superman asked Victor earlier if he wanted to use his real name amongst the group, but he hadn't decided yet by the time he had been brought over. But before he could answer Artemis' hesitant query, he turned to his left shoulder in shock as he saw a green gecko now perched upon it. Victor squirmed in a startle as it smiled at him. It knocked it off as it then landed on it's paws... YES paws. Victor couldn't belive with his normal and cybernetic eye. The gecko shifted in mid-landing into a green little rabbit. It tweeked it's nose and whiskers and to Victor's amazement, then it morphed upward into a humanoid form. INto Beast Boy.

"WOW! You look so cool!" Beast Boy said with likewise fanboy amazement.

"Ahhh, thanks" Victor didn't know much to say to that. The aliens and superheroes he could handle. The green shapeshifting elf was something else. He was slightly confused and offput by the kid's reaction.

"Not that you weren't already cool... you're _**VICTOR-REEE**_! Star quarterback! But now your like a kickass cyborg or something out of the old movies I watched!"

Miss Martian bit her lip while Superboy facepalmed. They were trying to avoid insulting Victor, taking that last comment as one.

"Oh, Beast Boy!" Artemis muffled under her breath, in response to his feared faux pas.

"Cyborg?" Victor asked as the purple-uniformed, barefoot changeling stepped forward in wonderment.

"Sure, half-man... half-robot. Hey, bet you could benchpress more than Starfire! Or match cheetah speeds!"

He then shifted into a cheetah and zoomed around Victor, while Superman and the rest of the heroes began to facepalm. They wanted to have a friendly chat, not scare off the possible up and coming hero.

"Could you dial it down a little BB!?" Wondergirl tried to ask, but before she could get a word in edgewise, he shifted back and grabbed hold of Victor's right arm.

"Sorry. Just... one last question. You're made of nanobots, right? So... you could like, morph a big giant arm cannon or something. Ya know... BABBOOOOOOOM!"

After a few seconds of letting that all question sink in, not to mention trying to picture making a cannon out of his arm to bust some heads like the assorted heroes amongst him... Victor finally mustered up a response.

"You're a strange little dude aren't you?" was all Victor could say in a slightly disturbed tone, trying not to hurt the little green kid's geeky heart.

Beast Boy stood there eyes wide as ever, then he chuckled "You called me dude. Sweet!"

Everyone else relaxed on that note, and joined in to talk to Victor. On this note Superman made his leave, with a smile on his face knowing he was amongst friends. All the while Victor couldn't help but crack a grin from that little green dude's big old grin. The one person not afraid or intimidated by the Cyborg... this just might work out after all Victor thought to himself, as the Team started to show him around.

* * *

**I didn't have a hand in the project much, but the group asked me to post these stories here. ^^ I hope you enjoy them!**


	2. Arrowette

**Story by Darksuperboy**

**Written by Zor-Alov and myself**

* * *

_Keystone City, Kansas_

_December 31st, 2016_

_11:53pm CST_

The Star View Apartments was a lively place day-to-day, but on this night in particular, there was no better place to be. According to Cissie King-Jones that is. Thanks to her father's job, she'd spent a number of holidays in many exciting- and not so exciting- places; this year however, the action was in their own home. The apartment door was propped open invitingly, welcoming expected and unexpected guests alike. Fun upbeat music poured out into the hall, resounding off of every wall, enveloping the party goers in its festive sound. Cissie was loving every bit of it, hosting her first real party... without the adult supervision of her trusting father. While making her way through the crowd, with a grin plastered on her face and an infectious laugh bubbling out every so often, she caught sight of a cluster of her friends that had just arrived. Each of them were sporting apparel in varying bright colors, some of then covered in alarming amounts of glitter and confetti.

"Cissie this is great! How'd you convince you dad to let you throw this!?" one of her friends asked amidst the booming of the music.

"Oh" she giggled, "He truested me enough to have it all in one piece by next year. That and winning the finals helped!"

She and her friends laughed as they went over to grab a few drinks... soda... while they continued to chat.

On the coffee table nearby, covered in confetti, was a photo of Cissie and her teammates on the Archery team. She took them to victory in the US Junior competition, as team captain. Her friends think she was inspired by her mother, a former gold-medal Olympic athlete now divorced from her father. But in reality, it was the blonde heroine who saved her father... that newfound love and skill for archery.

Most of her non-athletic friends as well as the team was there, and suprisingly Cissie had it under control and under age while still fun enough for the gang. Richard Page, one of her teammates, was over by the window zoning out most of the music and the party, trying to get his touchscreen to work.

"Jeez, can't you go five minutes without that thing?" a friend of his joked with him, with a nudge on the shoulder to bring him back to reality.

"Not funny, Thad. Somethin' weird's going on, and I can't get a signal!"

While fighting the urge to laugh him off and rejoin the dancestep game going on over near the TV, he sighed and sat beside his friend.

"So what's up?"

"Last hour ago I got cut short from my brother in the air force, said they were scramblin' or something. And every since I've gotten nothing, no feed. I'm kinda worried here."

"Huh... my phone's been lousy too."

As Richard chatted on with Thad on the couch, a girl spotted the cherry-blonde boy and hurried over to Cissie in the kitchen. She spooked her friend by jotting her from behind to get her attention with all the music.

"Traya!" Cissie loudly said with a smile as she hugged her friend, who was partly deaf. Without a word, sorry, Traya Sutton grabbed Cissie by the arm and led her back into the living room area. "Having fu...wait, what the"

"Where are we..." she laughed as she was led in past an assortment of friends and classmates from her high school walking about. Everyone was getting ready for the countdown to midnight. "Oh!" she nearly gasped, when she spotted Thad.

"Tray... I ahhh, oh god." Cissie said to herself, while trying to make a break for it. Thad was her secret crush, which was why Traya wasn't letting Cissie run off and hide. Tonight was the night.

"Midnight" she roughly spoke to Cissie, "Kith Thad!"

"No, no, no... I can't"

"Comhe onnn! It'll be womantic!" he persistent friend goaded her with a smirk.

With a hand to her head, and while bitting her lip, Cissie mulled over the very risky idea. Her best friend wasn't budging.

"Traya... oh, I'm gonna regret this!"

She took a deep breath and walked over there, while Traya stood by and quietly clapped in delightful anticipation. On the other side of the room, guests were complaining because the TV feed was shotty, no one could see the ball dropping for Central Standard Time New Year's.

Cissie in a leap of her good senses, cleared her throat to attract Thad's attention away from Richard.

"Thad! Fancy meeting you here!" she akwardly interjected

"Hey, Ciss" Thad turned with a smile, "Great party!"

"Ahh, yeah... yeah, thanks! I'm... well, so... glad your gorge... I mean, ENJOYING the pa-party! hehe"

Traya didn't need to hear to know what Ciss wasn't doing to good. Reading lips and all. Her grin began to fade to cringe, as she watched and was starting to rethink egging her friend into kissing Thad.

"I didn't think you were gonna make..."

"Yeah, well my dad got home pretty late from the precinct, but I... ahh, managed to get the car to hop on over here. This place is kickin!"

Cissie heard just about every third word. He was two years older and a hunk by her standards. She was busy staring at Thad's face while twisting her hair and trying to plan out how to peck him a suprise kiss.

"So, I guess it's almost midnight then. Ahh... Ciss?"

A very long pause commenced. It took her a few seconds to realize he just asked her something.

"What? Midnight... oh! Right, right! Midnight... yeah, wow. Ahh... where _does_ the time fly?"

Richard, still sitting on the couch, facepalmed. This was getting too awkard for him, so he got up and gave these two some privacy. As he walked past the window, a helicopter swooped by, unnoticed along with the flashing police sirens with all the noise.

"Cissie, I just wanted to tell you how great it was, seeing you win the finals and all."

"Wow, thanks. Was a lot of work getting there and all, but it paid off. And seeing my folks together and proud of... wait... you, you were at the finals?"

Thad was a little flustered himself now, losing his edge and image as the cool main man.

"Yyyeah. I was there for most of it."

"I...ah, didn't see you there." Cissie asked, curious now.

"Okay. The thing is I wanted to say hi or something. Good job, way to stick it to Gotham. But I chickend out."

"You? Chickening out!?" Cissie said with a nervous laugh as the music died down closer to the ticking of midnight. Traya saw then with a renewed smirk.

"Well, see... okay, I'm just gonna say it. I really like you Ciss. For a while now, and I... ahh, oh boy..."

Cissie was glassy-eyed and grinning from ear to ear at this revelation. But before she could even say the words she's been dying to say... her cellphone rang. Not now, for god's sake not now she was thinking.

"It's my dad! My... dad, ahh... hold that thought, please" She awkwardly had to pause Thad mid-confession.

Cissie put the phone to her ear and a hand on the other to drown out the noise.

"DAD! HI! LISTEN, NOW'S NOT THE BEST TIME TO CHECK UP ON..."

"Cissie I've been trying to reach you all night!"

**35**

**34**

The countdown was commencing, and Cissie was about to miss her chance to kiss Thad.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, everything's been wonky. But we're okay Dad, we're..."

**21**

**20**

"CISSIE! LISTEN TO ME! SOMETHING'S HAPPENING, YOU HAVE TO GO. GET EVERYONE OUT OF THERE RIGHT NOW!"

"What!? Wh-why?"

"DON'T TALK, JUST LISTEN CISSIE! I'M ON MY WAY RIGHT NOW. JUST TELL EVERYONE TO FIND THEIR PARENTS, FIND SOME WAY TO GET OUT OF THE..."

Suddenly the signal cut out.

"Dad? DAD!?

**12**

**11**

"What's wrong?" Thad then turned to ask, as Cissie's face now had an panicked expression.

**8**

"My dad just... something's going on..."

**5**

**4**

**3**

"Cissie?" Traya hurried over to her friend while everyone else was watching someone's laptop with a counter on it to make up for the lost TV feed. Party favors and red cups in hand.

**2**

"Traya, my-my Dad, he sounded really upset. He said we all need to..."

**1**

**MIDNIGHT**

Suddenly the lights and all electronics died. Everything was pitch black except for the starry skyline outside. Everyone was freaking out as they saw the whole city's grid die in front of them. Buildings darkened. Everyone turned to see what was hapening, while checking their phones for something, a life-sign, a signal.

Then like a crack of thunder, a massive boom echoed outside. Accompanied by a blinding flash of light. Cissie and Thad pressed up against the window to see what in god's name was happening. As the boom subsided, the police sirens wailed louder than ever, while guests swore they could hear jets soaring by. Along with something else...

Cissie screamed as she saw something incoming. She and Thad jumped back as other guests looked in terror. A monster had slammed up against the glass, a snarling winged alien with green armor and massive fangs. It roared at them from outside like a bat along the building side. It pounded on the glass again and again, as Cissie's friends and partygoers began to flee out the front door of her apartment.

Then it managed to break through the glass, forcing it's way in as it hollowed and clawed at everyone inside. Cissie ran as it charged at her, snarling like a mad dog. She leaped over the couch and ducked in terror as it manically persued her. Thad picked up a lamp and tried to hit it repeatedly on the head. It turned it's head, unphased by the attacked, and stared down Thad with it's piercing bug-like eyes. It lunged at Thad and took large bite out of him, then grabbed him with his claws and threw him across the room. Traya, crawling backwards on the floor screamed, while Cissie watched in horror as the lifeless Thad flew through into the kitchen and crashed into the stovetop.

Traya raced over to try and pick her shellshocked friend up and help her, while the Parademon turned and began stalking the escaping droves of guests out the front door. Unfortunatly the large monster couldn't even fit through the doorframe, as Richard watched in a state of panic while fleeing down the hallway. The Parademon howled with frustration while trying to bust through the door.

A few stragglers in the apartment hurried over to Traya and Cissie. She was still proccessing that Thad was dead and that this monster was real. She was near tears and panicking, hadn't been this scared since... since the Green Archer.

She turned to saw her friends just as terrified, then thought of her hero on that fateful night. Something inside her snapped, and Cissie shook off her fear. She then spotted her archery case off in the hallway leading into her bedroom... near the front door.

"Traya!" She screamed to get her deaf friend's attention, she was shaking. Cissie grabbed her by the shoulders to calm her down.

"I know, I know. Just listen to me!" she said with booming lips to get the message across, while the Parademon fought against the woodframe. "I'll HOLD IT OFF! YOU RUN.. UNDERSTAND!?"

Traya shook her head disagreeing.

"I'LL BE FINE, JUST GO! GET EVERYONE OUT OF HERE!"

And with that, Cissie cautiously stood up. Then, against the screams of her other friends, she made a bolt for her archery case. They were absolutely shocked by her heroics.

She gave the monster a sharp kick in the back, then made a quick turn into the hallway and grabbed her case. The monster turned and let out a thunderous roar, chasing after Cissie. She dropped and slid along the floor, hurtling into the bathroom at the last second, while the Parademon lunged into her bedroom at breakneck speeds. It collided with the wall inside, trashing her room managing to get itself stuck in the plasterboard. As it struggled to get it's head out, Traya and the others found the chance to escape.

"CISSIE!" Traya yelled back, remaining at the front door while still refusing to leave.

"GO!" Cissie hollered back while waving her off through the doorway of the bathroom. Traya then raced out with the rest of the crowd to the stairway at the end of the hall, crying and devastated at leaving her friend behind.

Just then, the Parademon burst out of the wall, after clawing it's way out. It then turned to see Cissie and her movements. She was now pulling out arrows from her case, and armed with a bow. After tearing apart her bed to make room for another charge, the Parademon roared in rage. She saw this and made another bolt back into the living room, while noching her arrow with her teeth. The demon plowed through the small hallway, crashing and destroying the apartment. It then nearly took out a wall as it made a likewise sharp turn, slamming into the TV display in the corner.

Then Cissie did a cartroll in the center of the room, just as the Parademon charged her. With full claws at the ready, it leaped and flew right at her... ready for the kill.

In an do or die split-second moment, Cissie let the arrows fly. Right into it's hideous open jaw, an somehow pierced the monster. With a look of both shock and amazement, the monster let out a last defeaning roar and fell limp to it's knees. It hit the ground dead, with an an arrow having imbedded itself in the back of the creature's head.

Cissie looked at the fallen monster, then breathed deeply at her bow. It was so fast, it seemed impossible. And yet there on the ground was the downed abomination ready to kill her. A few minutes ago she was partying now... now the glittered and confettied floor was bloody and covered by an alien corpse.

She barely had time to process any of this when she heard gunfire and explosions outside, strange flashes of light in the air amidst more monstrous roars. She turned to see what was happening through the shattered window.

"DAD."

After surveying her apartment, the monster, Thad... one last time, she grabbed her arrows and moved slowly towards the door. She then raced down the hallway of the building, as it shook and crumbled from the firefight outside. She screamed down the stairwell at everyone still fleeing. Midway as Traya, safe for now. Cissie clutched her bow and had a hand on the quiver on her back as she raced down to catch up with her to the basement. All the while worried about her father, about what the hell was happpening.

_January 7th, 2017_

_2:16pm CST_

A few tumultous weeks later, the situation had almost normalized. The New Year's Invasion was defeated. But the loss of life and the destruction still left Keystone City in a state of emergency, like most urban areas around the world.

Cissie sat on the roof of her apartment, drifting mentally and somber, whilst National Guard roared by on the streets below. She found her dad once the Martians and the other heroes like Flash rolled in that night. They were reunited and safe. But that didn't change anything. She still couldn't get that image out of her mind. That Parademon, Thad, the whole nightmare. It kept her up for days in quiet thought.

She couldn't help but think of the good she could do with her bow, as she clutched it just as tightly as she did New Year's. She could save the people around her, help the city as it struggled to rebuild itself. Keystone stilled faced an increase in looting and crime, with services stretched between aiding victims of the invasion here and across the bridge in Central City.

It didn't help that there were reports of street thugs, gangerbangers from out of town causing trouble. What made them especially worse was people claimed they were superpowered. It was all too much for Cissie. She had enough, she had enough of being the scared little girl unable to help. She stood up and peered over the side of the building, looking down at the ruined Keystone City before her. She knew how to help protect it, to help bring it back on it's feet. Cissie also knew she'd been in deep sh-ahh... trouble, if her father found out. She'd likewise be dead if she messed up on the streets. But she was determined.

After raiding the school's team store for a stock of arrows, while also putting together a sort of pseudo outfit (a red hoodie with a blue-sports jacket). She even took a can of spraypaint to black out her face to conceal her identity just to make sure.

Cissie started small, breaking up a few muggings in the allies. A looter here and there. All from an unseen distance atop the roofs. She absolutely loved it, and made sure not to kill or severly hurt anyone. Stray arrows caught a few thugs and bruisers , leaving them screaming on the ground while victims fled and police arrived. Cissie didn't mind seeing the bad guys take a few arrows to the knee, but even with her skills she realized somebody good or bad could get killed. She was just trying to break up trouble, she wasn't like that nut with the Red Hood blowing away anyone that messed with her.

Cissie decided to get creative with her arrows then, sticking metal washers to the tips instead of arrow shafts. No pointed blade effected the accuracy a bit, but the non-lethal arrows seemed to do the trick. She heard enough screaming and profanity from the crooks to know that the tips hurt like hell. Between nights on the rooftops and days helping out at shelters or other facilities, she barely had time to see her dad, who was wrapped up in covering the ongoing investigation at the paper. Reports coming in of a conspiracy by supervillains to help the invaders exposed by the Flash.

It also didn't leave her much time to console Thad's father, a police profiler for the Keystone PD. She tried a few times to talk to him, but he couldn't even look her in the eye and just shut her out. He was taking his son's death very badly... she even heard her Dad say he openly accosted the Flash, blaming him. The thought only made her more upset, more angry. It only made her more determined to take it out on the street thugs at night.

Eventually after a few weeks, her stock of arrows ran out, but she couldn't take another stock from the school. She knew they'd be traced now that most services are back in running order, she'd be given away as the Team captain. So with metal shafts, originally copper tubing bought at any old hardware store... but cut down, she started feathering them with those found from the city's flocks of pigeons. Her own set of arrows.

_January 15th, 2017_

_10:27pm CST_

Cissie was making the returning rounds, back from one of her self-styled patrols. With Olympic skill, she backflipped and ran across the rooftops. She would have made her mother proud with the triumphant display. Just as she was about to make a leap between buildings, she spotted someone down in the alley behind a local deli. She peered down at the burly looking figure, then spotted him rushing forward into the street, at some unsuspecting couple. With one punch he knocked out the man just as he spotted him and tried to defend his wife. She screamed out for help, as he put his arm around her throat in a tight squeeze. Hero time for Cissie.

"GIVE ME YOUR... _OUPHMMMMMM_" he tried to yell, before being slammed in the head with one of Cissie's patented new arrows. He was knocked cold into a dumpster, while the woman looked up at the heroine. Cissie smiled at another good deed for the evening. But just as the woman began to help her husband up off the ground, the mugger came to. He got himself up on his feet as well, then looked up with a blurr at the archer on the rooftop. He roared almost as loudly as the Parademon, catching Cissie's attention just as she was about to leave.

She fired another windshield wiper arrow at him to try knocking him out. But the big thug took it full blunt to the head, and didn't even budge this time. He simply looked even more enraged. The couple Cissie saved fled right back down the street, just as the thug picked up the dumpster behind him... and held it above his head with his bare hands.

"Oh boy..." Cissie blurted out in a nervous panic. With a quick gasp, she dodged the incoming dumpster lobbed at her like heavy artillary.

She ducked and rolled, but by the time she got back on her feet... the thug was gone. Cissie, however, austutely picked up on a strange crumbling sound. She looked down and realized the thug was scaleing up the building, digging into the sheer brick with his bare hands. "Great. Ugly, stupid... and fast"

She backed away and grabbed hold of another arrow, she notched it as he leaped up onto the roof and confronted her.

_"Arrow girl hurt Spazz..."_

"Spazz? ARROW GIRL!?" Cissie asked, with her arrow trained on the towering thug. He ripped off his jacket and revealed a monstrous physique. An inhuman amount of muscles and veins, with a shaved brown-haired mohawk and two dead white eyes.

"Good god. You're one of those bangbabies from the news!"

She realized he was one of the superhuman thugs running rampant across the country, in the aftermath of an unknown explosion in Dakota City. After the invasion, looting and gang violence broke out, but during one police raid... an incident occurred. A Big Bang. Now gangbangers had metahuman powers and were spread out across the US causing all tons of damage. She just hoped she wouldn't have to deal with one of them, she wasn't even in the league for D-List supervillans.

_"NO ONE MESS WITH SPAZZ! OR CALLS ME UGLY!"_

"Good ears, bad B.O.-_OHHH, CRAP!"_

He charged her before she could unwisly finish quipping, Cissie was able to dodge him like a giant lumbering rhino. But then he turned around and stomped on the rooftop. It cracked and knocked her off her feet again. He then lept into the air and attempted to piledrive her with his giant fists. She rolled out of the way, while trying to make a dent with her home-made arrows.

"Should have keep a few lethal ones in hindsight" she muttered to herself. Cissie then dodged his fists again, this time trying to return the punches. But one punch into his stomach and...

"OW! OW! OW!" her hand was burning from the strike, it hurt her more than him. Spazz laughed as he he then grabbed her by the hair and tossed her like a ragdoll into the side of a water tower. This was going to hurt in the morning. It took the breath out of her, making it hard to get up as Spazz came in for the kill. She tumbled out of the way as he attempted to break every bone in her bone with one slampunch. His strike knocked the water tower loose, with water guzzling down on top of them and the roof. As Spazz shook himself off like a wet dog, he growled and turned back to Cissie, now on her feet. It was then that a crazy idea struck her. She pulled out a device from her quiver, a stun gun her father gave her... just in case given the situation of Keystone City.

_"ARROW GIRL NO HURT SPAZZ..."_ he laughed while pounding his fists to ready his killing blow, _"SPAZZ WILL MAKE YOU UGLY! CRUSH YOU TIL NO ONE KNOW YOU UGLY!"_

"Arrow no hurt" Cissie struggled to say, still reeling from that last punch "But girl YES hurt"

She zapped on her taser and slammed it into the pool of water beneath Spazz's feet. He was electrocuted and started really spazzing out. He sizzled and convulsed with pain, howling like that Parademon ingrained in her brain. Cissie then pulled out another arrow and quickly let it fly. With the electricity burning it was hard to tell if it hit, she figured a copper shaft would intensify it.

Sure enough, she heard crashing amidst the sparks. Then Cissie saw Spazz hurtling backward from a blast that knocked him off his feet and through the water tower. The superhuman thug and the tower feel to the street below, on top of a car. Cissie limped over to the edge, and spotted the unconcious monster.

"Well..." she sighed with a deep breath, "that went well."

She clutched her abdomin, possibly a cracked rib. But when she heard the sirens, she made a dash as best she could back along the rooftops. Slower than ever, but cautious, she made her usual route back home.

Battered and bruised more than usual, she took off her hoodie and jackie, then hide it and her arrow set underneath a another water tower on top of a rooftop near her apartment building. She slowly unhooked and unlatched everything, reeling from that fight from Spazz. Safely tucked away, she wiped off the face-paint, then slid down the fire escape on the side of the building. She landed on her feet in an alley, then walked back up the sidewalk and down the street to her apartment. Walked in the Star View like nothing had happened.

She got on the elevator, and alone contemplated.

"Arrow girl? No way is anyone calling me that stupid name. Better think up for myself. Well Red Arrow's already taken, though I'm more mahogany red then him, not like firetruck Superman red. Ahhh... OH, I know! Arrow Woman... but wait, I'm 15 years-old, no one will believe that."

She arrived on her floor and got off the elevator, walkly slowly with her minor injuries to the door.

"I GOT IT! THE QUIVER!" She said almost aloud to herself in a eureka moment.

"Like... quiver, with... fear... ahh, that's just stupid." she sulked and sighed. After turning the key, she walked into her home, throwing off her shoes. Cissie put the keys in the bowl and walked into the the living room, hoping her father wasn't home yet so as to think up an excuse for the leg and her other injuries.

But alas, her father was home, she spotted him sitting in a recliner. With a look of concern on his face, no doubt because she was out so late. Her injuries weren't gonna help

"Ahh... hey, Dad." she sheepishly said hello, but then Cissie stopped dead when she spotted someone else in the living room. His eyes pierced into her soul as he stepped forward from amongst the shadows.

"Cissie King-Jones..." he said in a deep voice

Cissie's jaw was hanging wide with shock, aghast at the figure now before her.

BATMAN.

"We _need_ to talk."

Cissie backed up at the sight of this feared hero...

Batman.

The Dark Knight himself in her very living room.

"I think you know who I am, Cissie" the caped crusader introduced himself.

It took her a moment to grasp words, her train of thought derailed by the fact that Batman himself had addressed her by name. In a tone that bodded trouble, especially with her father present and looking somberly upon her.

"Wow! Ahhh, this is unreal... I mean, DAD! Did you see who it is? It's... it's Batman. Wh-hat a suprise!" she feined ignorance and slight enthusiasm, trying to act suprised at what could possibly bring Batman dropping by for a chat.

"You're not fooling anyone, Cissie" Batman sharply added while crossing his arms.

"Fooling?! Hehehe... what ever do you mean Batman? SIR." she was twiddling her thumbs nervously. "I assumed, ahh DAD.. Isn't he here about that article you've been writing, D-dad? About the...the ahh-ahh PARTICLE accelerator in Central City..."

"The league's been monitoring your activites for some time, Cissie. We know you're _The Hood_." A name in referance to her activites and sightings being mentioned in the tabloids, name was a step up really from Arrow girl.

But Cissie was trying Batman's patience, trying to think up something else to dodge or deny. But with a defeated look she eventually caved.

"For the record... _sigh_... I never liked the papers calling me that. Just as lousy as Arrow girl..."

She clasped her face in her hands, she was embarrased and ashamed that such an iconic figure would come down and spill the beans, bust her like this. Humiliating. Especially the silent look she was getting from her father.

"Our line of work is a dangerous one, Ms. Jones. You don't just do it for thrills or like some hobby."

"It wasn't about the... god! I just wanted, to-to GAHHH... to help..." Cissie lowered her temper as quickly as it was raised, remembering this was the friggin Batman she was talking to.

"You don't have the tools or the efficiency! It just makes our job that much tougher with minors like you on the street, armed with spraypaint and cheap weapons. Thinking you have what it takes against _really bad_ people."

"Which is another reason why we told your dad, Cissie." a new voice then said behind her. Cissie backed right into her in fact mid-sentance, making Cissie jump. She turned around fast. But then something in her mind clicked the minute she laid eyes on the woman. She didn't realize it at first, but after looking over the 20-something woman before her... the childhood memories flashback for her. That fateful night her father nearly died. She recoginzed that face from a rooftop afar in a green uniform, same blond hair too.

"You're... you're ARTEMIS!" she almost shrieked like a fangirl.

"And you're reckless."

That comment stung, the mesmerized look of wonder and hero worship faded.

"I mean you barely lasted against that reject from Dakota, Spazz was it? Without the training or the mindset..." Artemis continued, "if you take on the guys we face daily, and you'll get yourself killed."

"But... how did you..."

"The stun gun and the water tower, I'll admit that was fast thinking against the big bruiser..." Artemis then held up Cissie bow and make shift arrows. "But fast tricks pale in comparison to actually strategy, Cissie. That's why I helped finish him off."

She then handed her back the useless windshield wiper arrows.

"I-I didn't see much of anything from the sparks... with what a bazooka!?"

"No. Boxing-glove arrow to the crouch."

"Ouch" Cissie gripped her bow at the thought of that finisher. Still, she did smile at the thought of that monster getting what he...

"Back to the matter at hand" Batman chimed in astutely. And Cissie turned back around with a defeated look again, her smile faded and her held hung low.

"Okay... I... okay... _sigh_. Does this mean, I'm... under arrest?" she innocently asked. She even held out her arms thinking she was going to be handcuffed and dragged off into the night. She saw the newspaper photos of the thugs Batman hung upside down outside the police stations.

"We're not arresting you Ms. Jones..." Batman said, to which Cissie dotted her head back, while turning to see Artemis smile. "Artemis and I are here to deter you from your present course of actions. Before something _bad_ happens"

"Wait... so, what now!?" Cissie was very confused by the turn of events. But before she could even ask the two superheroes what was to happen instead, she saw her father still sitting in his recliner with the same look on his face since she walked in.

"Aren't you even going to say something, Dad!?" Cissie asked with her father in an upset tone.

"I know how mad you must be at me... but are you just gonna give me the silent treatment out of guilt? Do want me to say I'm sorry!? Sorry for lying to you or for endangering myself, being a reckless idiot with a bow!? BECAUSE I'M NOT!"

She was blabbering incoherently now, trying to hold back tears while waving her arms in frustration.

"I WASN'T GOING TO TURN MY BACK ON PEOPLE THAT NEEDED MY HELP! NOT AFTER NEW YEAR'S EVE... NOT AFTER THAD WAS KILLED BY THAT THING! I, I JUST HAD TO DO SOMETHING... i do know if you'll ever forgive but I'm not... not"

As she started tearing up, her father got up without a word and quickly pulled her in a hug. She cried into his shoulder, as he then wiped away her tears and calmed her down.

"I was never angry with you, Cissie" he reassured her, "Just scared that this day had finally come."

She looked him in the eyes, confused.

"I figured this was only a matter of time, ever since that night Artemis saved me from the Black Spider. That looks of wonder in your eyes, baby-girl... the constant herotalk over breakfast for so many weeks. Then the archery lessons started, I knew it wasn't just about mom Cissie. Though I'm glad you got more of her in you then me, I nearly got done in by bad seafo..."

He was in a tangent, so he got back to the matter at hand as Cissie stepped back from their daughter/father hug.

"Point is Cissie" he continued while putting his hands on her shoulders, "Now your all grown up, and I had hoped i might have had a little more time is all. I AM so... proud of you."

Cissie was expecting far worse from her dad, this was heartwarming in comparison to what she expected as a reaction.

"I knew not me or even the League could stop you from trying to help people, baby-girl. All I can hope is for you to try to be safe, which is why after Batman showed up... I asked something from him and the league. A promise."

Cissie's eyes widened with joy when her father said "That they promise to train you."

With the widest grin on her face she turned to see Artemis smiling. Her greatest was now her greatest teacher in the ways of a superhero archer.

Cissie pulled her father in for a gracious and overjoyed bearhug. Meanwhile Batman loomed over Artemis and quiety spoke with her.

"Are you sure you can handle this?"

"Not like I've had a chance to drill her since she was five or anything..."

Batman raised an eyebrow.

"_Ahem_... I mean, yeah. I can handle this. If Roy can do it, so can I. We both learned from the best."

_Star City_

_January 21st, 2017_

_9:18am CST_

_DAY ONE_

A man in a black t-shirt and army jeans stood by patiently, while the zeta tube activated.

_**Recognize: Artemis, B07**_

_**King-Jones, Cassie, B30**_

Artemis was in full uniform, while Cassie was in her school's archery gear while carrying a heavy bag over her shoulders. As Aretmis shook a friendly hand with the man in front of her, Cassie was glassy-eyed, amazed with a dropped jaw at what just happened. Amazed even despite the fact it gave her an upset stomach

"You get use to it" Artemis told her young pupil. Cissie nodded without looking, with her jaw still ajar and her eyes still wide.

"So..._ahem_" she composed herself, "This is the Arrow-Cave or whatever?"

"Why does everybody call it that..." the imposing black man said with a sigh.

"Cissie, I'd like you to meet John Diggle."

"Ahh, Hi!" she said with a firm handshake. With a smile, he turned and began to show Cissie the set-up around her.

"Few people have ever been in here, Ms. Jones. This is one of Green Arrow's original hideouts. We were partners in the early days he started out. Then I helped train Speedy...err, Red Arrow, and Artemis for a time. Showed 'em both my best tricks."

"Now the student becomes the master, eh Dig?" Artemis said with a playful jab to the shoulder. "He'll be helping out from time to..."

Artemis turned to see she already lost track of Cissie. She was over by the hidden exit for vehicles, a lock-up filled with old cars was where she was drooling over a sweet looking motorcycle. A green-modified used by the Green Arrow himself.

"At least she not's looking for the Arrow-Plane." Diggle chuckled.

"When do I get one of those!?" Cissie hoppingly asked her new mentor as she bopped on and pretended to rev it up.

Artemis rolled her eyes, but with a smile dragged her back to the main part of the lair. She couldn't keep Cissie from her fangirl overeagerness. This was already a better first day training that she ever had, Artemis realized with a sad thought.

"Sorry, sorry." Cissie then said while composing herself. "This is serious business, and I apologize sensei. Or should I call you sifu?"

"You'll be calling her a lot worse once we're through with you" Diggle said with a malicious grin, turning Cissie's attention while Artemis stepped up onto a large training area. A sparring mat. The one that inspired the kind used by the team in the old Mount Justice.

"Okay then, Cissie. Or do you prefer the Hood, or maybe Arrow girl?" Artemis then playfully taunted.

"I hate either." she said with a annoyed huff, "still working on the names." Cissie said back while joining Artemis standing on the mat.

"Cissie it is for now. So then... are you ready to begin?"

"Ahh, well, can you give a minute. My stomach's in knoOOOOOO..."

Before Cissie knew it, she thrown on the floor in a leg-held headlock by Artemis. She was quick and precise.

"The bad guys aren't gonna wait. Neither can you!" her new teacher said with a fury, while John Diggle stood back and enjoyed the show.

As Cissie was getting hard of breath, Artemis released her then did a stepped back. Cissie got to her feet, while Artemis assumed a fighting stance.

"You need to be as skilled in hand-to-hand as much as you need to improve on your archery. I'll teach everything I know... but if you work with me Ciss, you follow my rules. Rule one: you give me everything you got..."

She then handsignaled Cissie to come at her. Confused but ready, she got into the mental zone of fighting someone with a hell of a lot more martial arts training. She charged Artemis and flayed away at her, like trying to jab an opposing boxer. Artemis blocked every punch thrown, then dropped-kicked her and knocked Cissie right out from under her feet.

"Rule two: you give me more..."

Cissie hit the ground hard that time. Even Diggle flinched at that last one, but was proud that Artemis was now no longer on the recieving end.

As Cissie picked herself up and shooed away the stars circling her after that last one. She turned fast to see Artemis coming in fast. She stopped short of a powerful punch to the face, scaring the living daylights out of Cissie.

"Rule three" Cissie unquenched her eyelids to see Artemis off to the side grabbing a bottle of water. She didn't even break a sweat, wile Cissie wiped the sweat off her brow.

"I make the rules." she then finished, as Cissie realized with shock that Diggle had joined the frey. He knocked her down in a wrestler-like move from behind, caught off guard and by suprise. He tackled her, but before she knew it, gave a hand and helped her back onto her feet. Cissie ignored the achiness, the sore stomach... actually everything now. She took a deep breath and assumed another fighting stance. She wasn't calling it quits. She wasn't going anywhere.

"Good girl." Artemis said with a smile as she began walking back onto the mat while cracking her knuckles.

_January 22nd_

_DAY TWO_

"So..." Cissie nervously asked while atop a balance beam. "I'm suppose to dodge them?"

"No" Artemis replied back while notching an arrow, "You're suppose to catch them."

A panicked look crossed Cissie's face as the arrows started flying.

_January 23rd_

_DAY THREE_

Cissie practiced sharpening real arrow tips, the kind she'd have never gotten hold of at school or from a sporting goods store. All the while watching Artemis readying her bow.

"They're sharp. They have to be. Windshield wipers aren't going to cut it anymore."

"I know that, but I'm not out to kill them!"

"None of us our, Cissie. That's why we need to lethal but precise." Artemis explained while standing at the end of a long coridoor.

"It's what seperates vigilantes like us... from murderers" She then turned and stepped on a foot panel. A bunch of tennis balls then dropped from the ceiling, bouncing away across the floor. Timed and aimed within seconds, Artemis let loose a volley of arrows from her bow. Cissie watched in amazement at her teacher's skills.

She pinned every tennis ball to the wall in front of her, pinned them in perfect timing from each bounce. All lined in straight row.

_January 24th_

_DAY FOUR_

With tape on her fists now, Cissie managed to block some of Artemis's strikes. But still she was easily pinned to the mat like every other time since the start of her training. But none the less, Cissie got back up assumed her stance, as Artemis waited for her pupil to attack first.

_January 25th_

_DAY FIVE_

Cissie took a gander at the armory of specialzed arrows. Those used for electric stuns, others to grappel, some with specialized arrow tips while others used for tracking or even more outlandish tricks.

"When do I get to use those trick arrows?"

"When you learn how to use real arrows better, Cissie."

"How do you even shoot those things... like that boxing glove. Shouldn't that weigh the shaft down, make it harder to shoot!?"

Artemis laughed while passing Cissie the bottle of water.

_January 26th_

_DAY SIX_

Cissie did push-up after push-up... all while hanging by her legs upside down from the rafters above.

She caught the news feed on a nearby smartpad. Word back in Keystone was that Thad's father had disappeared after being put on suspension.

_**Hunter Eobard Thawne**_ had just dropped off the face of the earth, with a grudge against Flash and the Justice League for his son's death during the invasion.

If Cissie wasn't training she be worried and out looking herself for him.

_January 27th_

_DAY SEVEN _

"If you can avoid a straight fight, always stick to the shadows" Artemis's voice tutored, as Cissie tried to get a lock on her teacher's position. While armed with a bow and a notched arrow.

Suddenly something swooped down above her to strike. Cissie rolled and ducked, then fired away, striking a training dummy. Then another, and another, all swarming down from the shadows and giving Cissie moving targets.

Most of them were non-lethal hits, others in the head or stomach.

Artemis leaped down from a rafter above, unnoticed by Cissie.

"Again." she said, catching Cissie off-guard and suprised with a shriek. A shriek accompanied by a notched arrow trained on her.

"Least your reflexes are kicking in." Artemis quipped with a deadpan.

_January 29th_

_DAY NINE_

Cissie leaped with great ease and agility through the rafters, dodging arrow after arrow from Artemis below. Her parkour skills had improved, now rivaling her olympic agility. Artemis tried to get a lock on her, but Cissie was learning well, sticking to the cover of shadow, perching upon metal ends like a looming gargoyle, avoiding direct fire.

But just when Artemis thought he had a bead on her, she fired from his own bow. Cissie... now actually a far from behind her teacher, fired her own arrow. It struck Artemis' in mid-air and knocked down. Artemis turned fast with suprise to see Cissie dropped back down from the rafters. She was pretty proud of herself.

_January 31st_

_DAY ELEVEN_

She was on the mat again, in another tight headlock. This time however she managed to break Artemis' grip by her own. But just as quickly as Cissie got back on her feet, she was floored once again by her sensei.

_February 1st_

_DAY TWELVE_

"The whole lone hero thing seems cool, being like the Dark Knight or Superman and doing everything by yourself." Artemis had two red punching guards on, while Cissie threw the punches. She was throwing hard fists, the kind that make knuckles bleed and muscles grow.

"But the truth is even they need help sometimes, working as a team is a priority for us." she further explained.

Strategy was good in a lone fight, but learning teamwork was vital. Otherwise six heroes all trying to act like the leader were gonna wind up killed. She drilled that in Cissie more often than not, she had to grow strong but also learn a team has to be stronger

_February 2nd_

_DAY THIRTEEN_

John Diggle, wielding two metal staffs struck first, Cissie blocking with two likewise staffs herself. Martial arts training was the hardest to adapt with, learning other skills besides the bow. She picked up moves though, learning to block and anticipate the opponent's next move.

She moved on to the next stop of blocked Diggle's staff attacks with her very own archery bow. She swooped and ducked, while gracefully blocking each powerful strike by Diggle. He was especially impressed when she managed to sneak in a hit from her bow. Right square in the jaw. Shook him up a bit, and smiled.

Then Cissie noticed the bow had been broken.

"Damn it!"

That bow took her to the Junior Finals, got her through the invasion and the early crimefighting.

"Guess it's time for a new one then..." Artemis told her student from behind.

She approached with a shiny grey case. She set it on top of a table, then gave Cissie the honor of opening it. To her awe and wonder, she pulled a sleek new converse bow, equipped with an array of gadgets and doo-hickies. It was red (mahogany red, not fire-truck) and gold. The arrows that came with it had black shafts and shiny silver tips. Cissie unfurled it and looked down it's sights.

"Like a kid at Christmas" Diggle said to Artemis.

Cissie just smiled back to her teachers.

February 4th

DAY FIFTHTEEN

Cissie had real muscles now, as she climbed the dumbell rows higher and higher. Holding only to a metal weight bar as she lifted it up and up by sheer force alone. She traded in her school workout clothes for red. More red. A more revealing work-out suit that showed off her... torso. A torso now showing itself as ripped as the rest of her.

_February 5th_

_DAY SIXTEEN_

"The most important thing to know on a team, Cissie. Is that their can't be any secrets. None."

"What about THE secret?"

"It's up to you whether you tell your teammates the secret identity bit. But you can't hold back secrets that will cause tension, make everyone lose focus or find a reason to distrust you. Believe me... it can get ugly if your teammates can't trust you while in the field."

Cissie took that well to heart. Then she let loose a volley of arrows, managing to pin three of the eight tennis balls let loose by Artemis.

"Better" her teacher said with pride.

_February 7th_

_DAY EIGHTEEN_

She still knocked her down though for all her improvement. Like every other time, face first into the hard metal mat. Cissie took a little longer than usual getting back up, but she shook it off.

_February 9th_

_DAY TWENTY_

Cissie tore the bandage rip and latched it onto her hands.

She wasn't a Robin with in-born trapese skills, but she handled the hanging rings just as easily, swinging and holding with great olympic skill. She backflipped and sumersaulted across the balance beams, then the rafters. She managed to catch an arrow that Artemis swerved her way. Just one was enough.

Push up after push up, followed by leg lifts with heavy weights.

She struck a sandbag with crushing blows. She could hold her own now.

_February 10th_

_DAY TWENTY-ONE_

With her deadly new bow she fired a clean shot away, while blindfolded. After hearing the arrow strike, she took off the blindfold and looked up with excitement. Then disappointment. It missed by a mile.

"Your not that good yet." Artemis explained with a laugh while taking her own bow out. "You need years to attune your reflexes, your other senses." Artemis explained, as she spoke with Cissie she notched an arrow. The she fired a shot beheind without even looking. Clean-killshot right in the center of the target.

But Cissie didn't sulk, at least beyond mumbling "show-off". She just packed her bow aside and then grabbed the ropeline, pulling herself up with a weight tied to each arm.

_February 11th_

_DAY TWENTY-TWO_

The physical and mental work-out was brutal, but Cissie was growing stronger by the day. Strong enough to even knock Diggle off his balance. She gives him a hand to help him back up to his feet on the mat. He smiles and obliges

_February 12th_

_DAY TWENTY-THREE_

But for all her training, she still gets her ass handed to her on the mat by Artemis. No matter the new agility or hand-to-hand skill, she gets knocked down and overpowered into the floor. This was the twentiefth time today.

But as always, Cisses picked herself up. But as she grabbed a water bottle, a beeping sound disturbed them. Artemis headed over to the computer desk, while Cissie was happy to rest a bit as she sat her butt on the ground.

"Hey babe." A voice said on the line, perking up Artemis as she chatted to the unseen figure. But Cissie recognized the voice from the news. She leaped over with show-off agility, to the computer. Ducking under Artemis' arm to butt in. She immediatly saw the red-suited superhero she was having a private line with.

"No... way. You know the Flash? HE CALLS YOU BABE!?"

Indeed, Wally West (known only to Cissie as Flash of course) was on the screen. Though he was a bit shocked to see the bright-eyed blonde next to Artemis. "So this is the pupil I've been hearing about. Ha... she's like your mini-me!"

"Funny, she hasn't said anything about..." Artemis pushed the muffled Cissie aside to continue chatting.

He laughed, but Artemis only replied back "What happened to your smaller self?"

Right on que Bart Allen zoomed into frame. Kid Flash gave a fast wave and smile, "HELLLO!"

"Just wanted to check in, see how the training was going. I mean between dividing time at home, in Star, and me in over in you know, we haven't seen much of..."

"Ahhh... yeah I get it."

Bart made a barfing noise on his end of the line.

"Training's good. Although she hasn't apparently quite outgrown the fangirl stage" she said with a raised eyebrow to Cissie, still gapping a glance at the screen like a snooping child.

"How's Central City at the mo..." Artemis then tried to asked. But before shew could finish a streak zoomed by on the screen. Puzzled at first, it didn't take her long to realize what happened. By the time Cisse and she looked up, Kid Flash was standing right in front of them. Flash saw it from the computer screen and face-palmed.

"Hi, Kid Flash. Nice to be formally introduced." he shook Cissie's hand, much to her suprise. Bart zoomed over and shook it like a speed demon, that shook her whole.

"Wow. Strong grip, how much do you bench... how you doing?"

Cissie caught every third word of that, but knew something was up with that last bit. She shrugged it off.

"Yeah, Cissie... Hi. Nice to meet..."

"Strange hero name?" Bart asked at a slower pace.

"What? Ahh... haven't picked one yet. But if call you me Arrow girl... I'll slug you!" she was half-kidding.

"Noted! Noted!" Bart defensivly replied, "Avoid your mode."

He zoomed around her, blowing the hair in her face while Artemis chuckled. She then continued a private conversation with Flash.

"Weird uniform"

"Well I'm still making my supersuit, if that's what you mean. Can't go around sports jacket and a skirt!"

That made Bart chuckle a bit. "Ahh, I like you. But no offense, you still need a name. Ahh... how about Kid Artemis?"

Cissie made a raspberry noise in an avowed negative.

"Trickshot? Archery Woman? Arrowette? Scarlet String? Bowgirl? The Quiver!?"

Cissie nearly gasped at that last one, then laughed.

"What... what'd I?"

She was nearly snorting out her nose in laughter, but Cissie composed herself. "No, nothing. It's nothing. I'll figure it out. Thanks" she puncuated that last one with a faint smile.

Artemis finished discussing with Wally, then motioned him with a little could you hand signal.

"AH-HEM" Flash then said from his side of the computer screen. Bart caught a glimpse of Wally was shaking his head at his first cousin. Bart sighed by was not suprised. He didn't want to leave.

"Be there in a Flash!" Wally yelled over the screen. Artemis rolled her eyes, just as a few seconds later a gust of wind swooped in. Planting lips on her cheek.

"Hey beautiful." the speedster coyley said to her while taking her in for a hug. Cissie and Bart watched in disgust as he nuzzled her neck and made her laugh. She then playfully pushed him off and tried to act legitimate again in the eyes of her pupil.

Wally waggled his eyes, then turned to Bart. Unfortunatly they went into fast speak mode as Cissie watched on in confusion. Artemis shrugged when Cissie gave her a glance.

Eventually Flash put a hand on Kid Flash's shoulder. "Let's go, sugar rush!"

Dejected, Bart complies and zooms off again. Not before giving Cissie a nod and a wink. She shook her head and laughed him off.

Just as quickly, Wally made his leave as well.

"Okay, Cissie. Break's over... time to hit the MHHHHHH..." Artemis was swooped up by another gust of wind. Flash cradled Artemis in his arms while the two shared a deep kiss.

"Bye" Wally lustfully whispered in her ear, then disappeared again. After processing that, Artemis got back on her feet, flustered and breathing heavily. She tried to compose herself, but caught Cissie dumbfounded by smiling like a school girl.

Her teacher groans. "I'll make him pay for that."

"I bet you will." Cissie sheepishly said back. Then Artemis gave a look and sent her walking to the mat.

"By the way, we're doing something different tonight." She revealed.

"Ahh... wh-hat? Is this because of that crack I made?" Cissie innocently asked while starting to punch a hanging sandbag.

"Field Training"

Cissie stopped cold and her eyes widened. An official patrol in her new suit and applying her new skills. She was the one flustered now.

"Suit in up two hours. And I'd think up a hero name by then If you don't want the baddies calling you Arrow girl!" Artemis chuckled while grabbing a towel to wipe down and get ready herself.

"Don't worry... I think I know one I like" she replied while thinking of that quirky little speedster.

_Star City_

_February 12th, 2017_

_10:16pm CST_

A local grocery was being robbed by a pair of thugs.

"Who tripped the silent alarm!?" one of them yelled while muffled under a ski-mask.

"Doesn't matter" the other yelled with a Texan drawl, while holding the cash. "Let's hit the trail!"

"Matters to me!" the other one said, turning to an old man behind the register while pointing a gun right at him. Everyone else in the store cowered or shrieked as they sat on the ground with their hands on their heads.

Suddenly the gun was ripped out of his hands by a arrow that came hurtling out of nowhere. Lodged it right into the wall by the finger lock. The criminal turned to see Artemis standing in the doorway, trained with a bow right on the two of them.

"Let me guess, you two are new town?" she quipped as she pulled the bowstring back. "Give me a reason."

The few customers in the store used this as a chance to flee out the front door.

"Great" the Texan yelled, "It's Green Arrow's brat! We coulda lost her if you'd listened to Billy..."

"Yeah, should have listened to Billy!" another voice yelled, attracting the two's attention. From an alley entered Cissie, now fully adorned in armored costume. She was mahogany red with green googles on her masked head, which also had a hood. It allowed her hair through to hang down the front. A small pink version of Artemis' logo was on her chest.

She smiled and trained her bow on the pair of thugs. "This is my first night on the job, so I'm willing to take you guys down easy. Don't make this hard.."

"You have no idea the meaning of the word... hard!" the cocky thug hollared back, removing his mask to reveal punk purple hair and a goatee. The asian gang member then created two energy swords from his hands. _Shiv_.

The other criminal took off his mask to reveal a acne-riddle face with buck teeth and red biker goggles on. He cackled as he pounded his fists together, and from the kinetic force created three sets of clones. _Billy Numerous_.

Bangbabies.

"Ahhh... which one you want?" Artemis asked aloud.

"He's mine." Cissie confidantly said while aiming at Shiv.

"Good girl."

Artemis then fired away into the fray, while kicking and punching at Billy's attacking clones. Shiv just walked over and smiled viciously at Cissie.

"Give me your best shot... chickie-pie." he sliced and slashed his energy blades in a show of deadly force while motioning her to attack first.

She was hoping he'd say that.

"The name's Arrowette, freakshow!" She pressed a button on the bow. "And you better close your eyes."

He snarled and lunged at her with his energy swords pointed.

"Cause this is gonna hurt"

Her arrow turned into a trickshot arrow... a boxing glove. She pulled back and let it fly.

_**BAM**_


	3. Raven

**Story by Darksuperboy**

**Written by myself, edited by Zor-Alov**

* * *

_Azarath  
October 31st, 2001  
Unknown_

The soft blue sky was just beginning to darken, the evening slowly setting the sky awash in the brilliant orange and pink tide of the setting sun. White fluffy clouds dissipated in the evening air, what little was left of them taking on the fiery hues around them; the same light washed over the city below, marble and alabaster walls taking on matching color. Though beautiful and wondrous as it was, it was not an uncommon sight to be seen by the people of Azarath. Every sunset was different but no less astounding than the last, and every sunrise just as beautiful. Peace settled over the city, much like it always did as all returned to their homes.

This night however, a sudden change did not go unnoticed. Red began to bleed through the sky, not a change in the clouds, but from the sun itself. As the color spread, more and more people stopped where they stood, entranced by the strange phenomenon. The wave of red drew ever closer to the city until it was licking at the walls. In just mere moments, the peaceful evening erupted in a thunderous howl.

As quickly as it had come, the noise and color were sucked away, leaving the city in dead silence, but the respite was brief. Moments later it reappeared, the scarlet ribbons flooding over the city, carrying with it massive wraiths of flame and the torturous yowls that followed them.

A tremor rolled through the city, dropping fleeing citizens to their knees as they fled from the horrible creatures as more and more of them appeared from the crimson cloud that now blocked out the sun's light. When the shaking had subsided, another tremor followed with others in its wake. Wave after wave poured through the city's foundation, every quake rattling the temples and buildings, sending once proud statues falling to the ground in crumpled heaps of broken stone. As the minutes passed, the shuddering stopped, allowing the sound of terrified screams to rise into the air mingling with wraiths' gleeful shrieks of satisfaction.

Their pace was quick, their work efficient, as if they had done the same things a thousand times before; as the people ran they found no escape or haven, taking to the streets as the city began to burn, thick clouds of dark choking smoke billowing into the crimson sky.

On the far side of the city, the barest hint of calm still remained. People came out of their houses, looking down the streets, marveling in horror at the columns of smoke rolling ever closer, all except one. Drifting through the shadows between the stone buildings was a woman shrouded from head to toe in a flowing snowy white robe, the hood pulled up to hide her face. Silent tears spilled down her cheeks, disappearing into the neckline of the garment.

A heavy breath escaped her as she leaned around the edge of the building she was leaning against, glancing up and down the street for signs of closer danger when a soft cry emanated from the folds of her robe, making a subtle quiver enter the breath that trailed it. Slowly and carefully, she gently shifted the robe's edge to reveal the tiny swaddled bundle tucked safely in her arms against her chest. Despite her tears, a smile pulls at the woman's lips as the child looks up at her sleepily, happily unaware of the destruction happening around her.

"Hush, my daughter. Everything will be alright." This time her voice was steady. She placed a gentle kiss to the baby's forehead, the tender girl having only been born hours earlier, before tucking her away once more and making a dash across the now deserted street, her path taking her up a set of stairs and into the temple beyond.

The temple was quite small compared to those within the inner city, but its size seemed to increase due to its emptiness. Like the street outside, it was devoid of life, save the two who had just entered. The candles and torches that would normally have been lit at such an hour were dosed, leaving the halls in darkness as the woman hurried along, the sound of her quickened footsteps bouncing back from the vaulted ceilings above. She only paused briefly to haul open the great door that barred her way to the temple's altar, then again to close it behind her with a resounding tone of finality. One hand slowly reached up to the hood of her robe, pulling it down and revealing blue-black hair that fell far past her shoulders.

As quietly as she could manage, she took the steps up to the flat stone altar, uncovering her child again. Now soundly asleep, the baby barely made a sound as her mother gently set her on the altar; she hesitated a moment, looking at her daughter with sadness and longing, stroking her hand over the baby's forehead before turning her attention to her task. A second item was produced from within the cloak, an ancient looking tome with fraying pages and handwritten scrawling words in black ink that was fading on the page's edges, which was promptly set next to the sleeping infant. With deft fingers, the woman flipped to the page she was searching for and quietly began to read. The words fell from her mouth in a rhythmic tone, picking up pace as she moved to the next page. Red light filtered through a small window to the side of the room followed by a rumble that had the temple shaking.

"Arella, why do you hide from me? Do you not want to see your lover again?" A deep voice echoed around the temple from an unseen source, the resounding growl that followed waking the baby, sending her into a fit of sobs.

The woman, Arella, ignored the question and continued to read; all around the room objects began to float, hovering just out of reach, including the baby, now fully in the clutches of fear and desperately crying for the comfort of her mother. "Arella, come to me. Come to me and you shall be Queen of this world you have given to me."

Arella ignored him still; a soft purple light filled the room emanating from the floating objects that had begun to orbit her daughter.

"You cannot hide from me, Arella. **I see you**." A crash went through the room, starting from the doors which now had their own glow, a sickening bloody red that matched the sky. Arella chanted louder, trying to mask all other sounds with her voice, hoping to give the child one last piece of her. "You cannot hide behind these walls, Arella! They cannot stop me!"

"No, they cannot. But they can give me time, and that is all I need." Arella half shouted then raised her arms high above her head. Tears began to spill down her cheek anew as her eyes locked on the baby; her hands came together in a clap, the book and the baby suddenly disappearing as if they had never been. The rest of the floating objects fell to the floor with a clatter. A breath later the door splintered and flew open.

Arella's hands were steady as she reached to her neck, pulling the white hood of her robe back up into place. With one more look at the now empty altar, she turned on her heel to face the flaming wraiths now drifting into the temple. Seemingly unafraid, she walked toward them at a confident pace, watching as they parted before her to make a path through the empty doorway then out onto the street.

The wraiths lined the street in all directions; more hovered on the rooftops and balconies of the buildings that remained standing, either as yet unburned or having survived the many tremors that rocked the city. They made no move toward her, just hovered and stared. Quiet had settled over the city, the screams that had filled the air now silenced and replaced only with the crackling of the fires on the outskirts. The entire sky was now a deep blood red only broken by thick clouds of pitch colored smoke. The voice continued coming from somewhere high above.

"Hello my love." The deep voice was louder now as if it had grown closer. Arella made no reply, but straightened her shoulders and stood up taller. "Do you not wish to speak to your lover either? Very well then. You may not wish to speak to me, but I shall speak and you will listen. I want to thank you, my love, for giving me this world. If it were not for you, I would not have been able to claim this place for my own."

Arella finally spoke, a venomous sneer leaking into her voice. "It shall be your last."

Laughter filled the air around her, both from the wraiths and the voice, sending a chill down her spine. "No world can stand against my power. All will fall before me!"

"I am glad then, that there is one world that will have the power to defend itself. Your power." Arella's voice carried a note of challenge.

"The child will not stop me! She is but a byproduct, Created from me, during my deception of you. Like the rest of the offspring I have seeded throughout the cosmos... she is no concern of mine, now or ever."

"The why did you seek to stop my ritual?" Arella demanded turning her face up to the sky. "Is the demon god Trigon so afraid of an infant?"

A shock of lightning flared across the sky, following by a deafening clap of thunder. Moments later, one by one, four glowing crimson eyes appeared in the sky. "**DO NOT TEST ME!** Do not try my patience or you will share the same that has befallen your people this day."

"I would gladly share their fate, if only to be rid of you. I would die gladly, knowing your reign will end soon." Arella shot back, her face settling into one of grim resignation and determination.

Another clap of thunder mixed with Trigon's roar as the whole of Azarath went up in flames_.  
_  
"She will be your undoing."

Nanda Parbat, Nepal  
October 31st, 2001  
22:16pm NPT

A chill wind howled around the mountain top sending blinding flurries of snow cascading through the air. Though the moon was full, its slivery light was unable to break through the solid cloud cover of the night. Still, tucked away in the deepest shadow set into the mountain side, a soft golden glow appeared as a small square of light. Candles in a variety of sizes and colors were burning, lighting the modest building there. The monastery was small, but home to a number of monks, all of which were now gathered around the altar in the middle of the largest room.

Each of them was turned to another, exchanging glances and hushed words, confounded and amazed by what they saw. Their small crowd parted though as the eldest monk made his way closer to the altar where a small white wrapped bundle lay. As he approached, the bundle let out a wail that rivaled the wind outside, but the man didn't startle. A few more steps and he was looking down at the child, a soft smile pulling at his lips and making the skin around his eyes crinkle.

"Hello child." He said soothingly, reaching out one hand to gently lay it on the bundle. The child's crying dissipated to a mixture of hiccups and quiet sniffled laced sobs. The monk continued to speak to her quietly, just gentle comforting words until her unrest seemed to vanish altogether. Soon the child was looking at him with a curious light in her eyes, then a smile bloomed on her own face.

Gently the monk picked her up, tucking her safely against his chest and then turned around to face the others.

"Our home shall be yours now... Rama Kushna will keep you safe."

Arella took the last step out onto the street. The wraiths lined the street in all directions; more hovered on the rooftops and balconies of the buildings that remained standing, either as yet unburned or having survived the many tremors that rocked the city. They made no move toward her, just hovered and stared. Quiet had settled over the city, the screams that had filled the air now silenced and replaced only with the crackling of the fires on the outskirts. The entire sky was now a deep blood red only broken by thick clouds of pitch colored smoke. The voice continued coming from somewhere high above.

"Hello my love." The deep voice was louder now as if it had grown closer. Arella made no reply, but straightened her shoulders and stood up taller. "Do you not wish to speak to your lover either? Very well then. You may not wish to speak to me, but I shall speak and you will listen. I want to thank you, my love, for giving me this world. If it were not for you, I would not have been able to claim this place for my own."

Arella finally spoke, a venomous sneer leaking into her voice. "It shall be your last."

Laughter filled the air around her, both from the wraiths and the voice, sending a chill down her spine. "No world can stand against my power. All will fall before me!"

"I am glad then, that there is one world that will have the power to defend itself. Your power." Arella's voice carried a note of challenge.

"The child will not stop me! She was merely created from me. From my deception of you. She is no concern of mine, now or ever."

"The why did you seek to stop my ritual?" Arella demanded turning her face up to the sky. "Is the demon god Trigon so afraid of an infant?"

A shock of lightning flared across the sky, following by a deafening clap of thunder. Moments later, one by one, four glowing crimson eyes appeared in the sky. "DO NOT TEST ME! Do not try my patience or you will share the same that has befallen your people this day."

"I would gladly share their fate, if only to be rid of you. I would die gladly, knowing your reign will end soon." Arella shot back, her face settling into one of grim resignation and determination. "She will be your undoing."

Another clap of thunder mixed with Trigon's roar as the whole of Azarath went up in flames.

Nepal, Earth

2001

22:16 NPT

A child wind howled around the mountain top sending blinding flurries of snow cascading through the air. Though the moon was full, its slivery light was unable to break through the solid cloud cover of the night. Still, tucked away in the deepest shadow set into the mountain side, a soft golden glow appeared as a small square of light. Candles in a variety of sizes and colors were burning, lighting the modest building there. The monastery was small, but home to a number of monks, all of which were now gathered around the altar in the middle of the largest room.

Each of them was turned to another, exchanging glances and hushed words, confounded and amazed by what they saw. Their small crowd parted though as the eldest monk made his way closer to the altar where a small white wrapped bundle lay. As he approached, the bundle let out a wail that rivaled the wind outside, but the man didn't startle. A few more steps and he was looking down at the child, a soft smile pulling at his lips and making the skin around his eyes crinkle.

"Hello child." He said soothingly, reaching out one hand to gently lay it on the bundle. The child's crying dissipated to a mixture of hiccups and quiet sniffled laced sobs. The monk continued to speak to her quietly, just gentle comforting words until her unrest seemed to vanish altogether. Soon the child was looking at him with a curious light in her eyes, then a smile bloomed on her own face.

Gently the monk picked her up, tucking her safely against his chest and then turned around to face the others.

"Welcome to your new home."


	4. Lil' Lobo

**Story by Darksuperboy**

**Written by Zor-Alov**

* * *

Gotham_ City  
March 16th, 2017  
9:00pm EST_

The docks on the Eastside of Gotham had all number of shady deals going on at intervals of the night and day. But early this evening, members of Intergang had arrived with a cargo ship filled with illegal items that would cement their return to power.

"Hurry it up" Whisper A'Daire said to the gangmembers in a cold tone, as they unloaded heavy metal crates by hand and with forklifts, into a series of trucks for shipment. The redhaired woman was leading point as Intergang planned for a massive buy later that night.

She wasn't alone, standing behind her but at a distance was Bruno "Ugly" Mannheim. Once loud and obnoxiously giving orders... now he was a more meek and soft-spoken right hand man. Whisper was calling the shots now, ever since she and Mannheim were rendered catatonic by Sportsmaster and Black Beetle. For going against the Light.

The stocky "Ugly" was watching the shipment carefully, knowing that Intergang's future rided on this buy to take place. After the invasion, alien technology had a greater demand on the black market. Intergang went deep underground stockpiling it in the hopes of waiting out whatever nonsense the Light was cooking up. They hoped to have maybe brought a reckoning upon them, after Luthor's arrest he saw a better opportunity. But now they were one of the last gangs with hands on Apokolips weaponry, the rest being constantly seized by the AOC.

"Boss" a young black enforcer stepped forward to address Whisper. "Weapons stocked and being loaded off as fast as possible. If everything goes smooth will be at the rendezvous on schedule."

"Better hope this goes _smooth_, Edge." Bruno replied back with a slight growl in his voice.

"We need this deal with Black Mask. Otherwise..." Whisper gave him a glare and he shut up.

"We got things under control. For sure."

Intergang's expansion hinged on the Gotham underworld's prominent crimelord. The League's hindered their global operations, now Black Mask is the only one with the connections to keep them afloat.

"And what about the last crate, Morgan?" Whisper then asked the gang enforcer. She turned her attention over to a tall sealed container. Everyone was handeling it almost as delicatly as if it were a bomb inside.

"We takin it slow, boss. Not gonna risk waking _that _up."

"Good." she reiterated back with near biting teeth.

The crane from the ship detached from the container, as the men began to haul it into an 18-wheeler. Part of Bruno's private stock that wasn't going on sale. Mannheim had a much more dangerous weapon in that container than Apokolips laser rifles.

"Until we get a better control program than the one we stole" Bruno then said to himself, "_that_ stays on ice in the Narrows."

Morgan Edge nodded his head in acknowledgement. He headed back to oversee the shipment not that it was almost unloaded.

"Somethin on your mind?" Whisper said to her boss turned lieutenant.

"I don't know" he said as she took a gander at the docks around them, "I just have this feeling that something's up."

"Whatta mean?"

"We were suppose to be gettin an update by now from those idiot security guards I paid off, at the entrance..."

Whisper took a look at her digital wristwatch. It read 9:02.

"It's only..."

An explosion rocked the docks, as one of the shipment trucks blew sky high. A rocket-propelled grenade launcher. The creep responsible wore a rubber facemask, face-burned on the right side.

Suddenly several jeeps swirved in on both sides of them. Ambush. The thugs leaped out and began opening fire on Intergang. Machine ripped apart the wooden crates and ricocheted with deadly force off the metal ones as Whisper and Bruno ducked to take cover.

Another explosion struck the side of the ship they had docked. The grenade launcher was now joined by more masked criminals as they pushed forward amidst the firefight. Intergang forces shot back, but then began to dip into the alien supplies for as limited as they were. Earthquake inducers rocked the pier as they pounded down with their fists. The exchange now had Apokolips laser rifles in the mix as they started flying with the bullets.

Morgan Edge fired a disk that caught the thug with the grenade launcher. An agony matrix immobilized him and knocked him dead off his feet. As the masked thug feel backwards, a figure stepped over his corpse and dodged the incoming projectiles.

Bruno whipped out a laser pistol and fired away in a rage, screaming "PROTECT THE 18-WHEELER!"

Whisper peaked out and saw the figure as he approached, armed with two carbine rifles in both hands.

"Dent"

Two-Face looked back at her with a smile from his half-charred face and grimy teeth. He then took a shot at her while cackling. All the while his boys blasted away with regualar assault weapons, shotguns, even one armed with a minigu. They tore apart Intergang, as the two gangs duked it out over the shipment.

From a water tower nearby, a pair of binoculars peered down on the firefight taking place.

"Two-Face?! What's he doing here?" Robin pocketed his binocs and turned to his partner.

Nightwing took out his grappler as he said, "He wanted Intergang as badly as we do, so now we take 'em both down."

"Two birds, one stone?" Robin joked as he activated a special system of his suit, a built-in glider.

"Depends how that pun works." Nightwing replied back with a raised eyebrow. Robin shrugged.

"Guess rumors are true that D'Aire is calling the shots now. Weird huh?"

"Well, based on what little we've heard on Intergang, she's working with someone else. And we need to find out. So you get the enforcers, and I get the heavies. Try not to get shot." Nightwing then said to Tim.

"Yeah, yeah. _Who do you think your talkin to?_" Robin mumbled under his breath, the way Nightwing treated him like a rookie. He then took a leap and glided down into the action.

Nightwing then followed right behind him and jumped off the water tower. With his grappler he swung down into the fray, disappearing into the shadows with his signature laugh.

But even from a distance, Two-Face caught it. "I'd know that laugh anywhere" he said with a snarl.

"Double-time, people! We're about to have company, and three's a crowd!" he yelled back to his guys, as they continued pushing ahead, even while being decimated by some of the advanced alien weaponry.

Unfortunatly for two of his goons over by huge cargo containers, a zip line attached to one that propelled him into the other guntoting thug right beside him. They crashed into the side of the metal container, cold. When another scarred-masked thug turned around, he got a bo staff to the face. Robin had entered the fight and he began coldclocking one hired gun after another, from Two-Face's end of the firefight.

Two-Face spotted the birdboy, and let out a growl as he turned his attention, blasting away the hero with both assault rifles. Robin ducked and dodged the gunfire amidst the blown up trucks and weapons containers. Then all of a sudden, one of the rifles was blasted out of Two-Face's hands. He turned to see Whisper armed with a long alien-looking rifle, almost like a spear that shot plasma-like fireblasts.

"Time to make the other side match, Dent!" she screamed with a smile, as she charged Two-Face blasting away. He runned and gunned as he and his thugs fell back. Just as Robin gave pursuit, Morgan Edge and the Intergang thugs confronted him.

While Whisper lead the charge, the boss in name Mannheim fell back and slinked away to the 18wheeler. He dragged one thug up to his feet, who was dodging minigun fire. "Get this outta here!" he ordered, as the two attempted to jump into the seats. Just as Bruno opened the sidedoor and tried to hop in, the door slammed back on him. He landed on his butt, and was given a swift kick that knocked his laser pistol out of his hands. Before the scared driver could react, he was dragged out by his shoulders and thrown aside into some wooden crates. He smashed into them on the ground, seemingly unconcious.

"Picked the wrong night to crawl out of your hidey-hole, Mannheim. Maybe you should have retired instead of sticking around with the new adminstration!" Nightwing said, while standing over Bruno and wielding two Eskrima sticks. Mannheim didn't like that last crack. But just, then... the driver stalked up behind Nightwing. Before he could give him a suckerpunch, Nightwing slammed a fist into his face without even looking. Bats would be proud.

Nightwing then dragged Mannheim to his feet and took out handcuffs, locking him to the radiator of the truck with his hands behind his back. "Just sit tight. I'll be back with your _boss_..."

Another explosion at the other end of the dock got Nightwing's attention, as Intergang pushed Two-Face's gang back into one of the warehouses. He got to his feet and ran fists first into two Intergang thugs scrambling to get away with weapons. He pummeled them to the ground, then made his way up the roof of the warehouse.

Inside, Robin was caught in the middle as Intergang and Two-Face's hired thugs clashed with each other. The explosives and lasers had mostly died down, too close quarters. Now it was knives and pistols, bats, crowbars, amidst lighter alien weaponry. Robin let loose smoke pellets after Two-Face ran out of assault ammo and switched to two magnums and blasted away at him. Lost in the smokescreen, Robin swung his bo up and around, knocking heads and running atop the crates. Two-Face fired away at the rafters, trying to get the birdboy. But just like that, he ran out of ammo. When he reached into his jacketpocket for another clip, Whisper of all people bumped into him. She doubleturned when she saw who was face to face to face with her. Harvey took the but of his pistol and coldclocked her in the forehead. She dropped her Apokolyptian weapon in the process, which riled her up as she got to her feet. Whisper threw several punches at Dent.

"Gonna make you pay for stickin' what's left of your nose into our business!"

"Nothing moves in this town without my say-so! You shouldn't have tried selling weapons to Black Mask, sweetheart!"

Two-Face returned a powerful slug to the face that sent Whisper reeling on the floor. Then she legsweeped Two-Face and knocked him off his balance. As the two gang leaders duked it out like cagefighters, Robin cotinued taking down the blinded assortment of their thugs. His bo staff knocked many a skull, but then one of Two-Face's goons managed to blindside him with a bat. He dodged another attack, but the shroud was starting to life, and some Intergang thugs began picking up scattered weapons on the floor. Robin took out a remote and activated it, aimed right at the thugs about to fire.

The hoodie-wearing female thug pulled the trigger. Nothing. With a look of shock, she smacked the gun, as did other criminals around here. Electromagnetic weapon disruptor, one of Batman's many toys. With a smile Robin took out birdarangs and knocked the useless weapons out of their hands, then got back to pummeling them with his bo.

A few masked thugs from Two-Face's side tried to make a break for it, only to be tazed by the newly arriving Nightwing's now electrified Eskira sticks. He strolled in over their unconcious bodies, to see Robin easily handeling the last of the Intergang thugs. But just then Morgan leaped in front of him, armed with an agony matrix projector. Before he could arm and fire it, Nightwing tasered him in his knee. He feel over, then with a jolt he felt Nightwing attache some devide on his back. He got to his feet and saw Nightwing give him a devilish wink, as he was then launched off his feet and hung upsidedown from the rafters by a projectile cable.

"Mind if I cut in!?" he then yelled, getting the attention of bruised and battered Whisper and Two-Face. He then charged into the two and brought them face first into the ground. While trying to kill each other momentarily, they gave each other a look planted on the floor, then threw Nightwing off and attacked. Whisper took out a knife while Two-Face had his barefists as he lunged on Nightwing.

"Been a long time, Birdboy." he growled

"So what was the plan, Harvey? Steal the weapons right out from under Intergang and Black Mask!?"

Nightwing blocked a jab then punched Two-Face in the jaw, knocking him off kilter. Whisper came in and grazed Nightwing by the ear with her blade. She then cut and slashed away, while Nightwing blocked with his sticks.

"I lost that coin toss, batbrat!" Two-Face exlained after spitting out blood. "Came to destroy the damn tech so no one else could get it!"

With an evil aside, he spotted what looked like an Apokolyptian missle launcher. While Nightwing threw Whisper off from him and began to finish her off with well-placed jabs and kicks, Dent tossed his coin.

Good heads. "But luck seems to be in my favor, with this one Boy Wonder!"

He smiled and picked up the missle launcher. After a few seconds he activated and armed it, straight for Nightwing and Whisper.

Before Nightwing could react, or even get a birdarang airborn, Robin spotted Two-Face from across the way. He kicked Morgan Edge to the ground in defeat then made a daring leap, throwing a line of dart rope. Just as the launcher was about to fire, the rope snared Two-Face by his legs and knocked him off balance. He fell backwards swearing, while Nightwing charged him like a running back. The launcher was tossed aside, but just as Two-Face was about to be cuffed... it launched.

The targeting computer was smashed and it launched the apokolyptian weapon without a target. Whisper, Nightwing, Robin, and Two-Face watched the alien missle soar up into the air, and TURN BACK AROUND.

"Oh crap!" Whisper yelled as she made a break for it, running out of the wearhouse.

"Think she's got the right idea, Nightwing!" Robin hollared back to his partner, who was getting Two-Face back to his feet as well. The two of them grabbed Two-Face by the shoulders as they made a bolt as well out of the dock wearhouse. The missle came fast, but to their suprise the aimeless projectile smashed through the roof and hit the other side of the building in a firey explosion.

Bruno Mannheim watched in horror as the missle exploded the other end of the 18-wheeler, that he was still handcuffed to at the front!

He could barely hear from the blast, but he screamed for help and struggled to get out from the front radiator before the rest of it blew.

But then he heard a loud crashing, like hard glass exploding. He stopped cold, then heard a monstrous alien roar. Nightwing and Robin heard it likewise, as they dragged along Two-Face in handcuffs to the sight of the explosion. The roar was deafening and powerful. When it stopped Ugly could hear heavy stomps coming toward him, along with loud grunting and breathing. Ugly screamed like a little girl now, panicing.

"GET ME OUTTA HERE, IT'S LOOSE! YA HEAR, THAT FRIGGIN THING'S LOOSE, I DON'T WANNA DIE!"

The half-smoldering truck rocked now, as a large shape burst out from the top of it, in one powerful leap. Bursting through it like tin, it left a crater as it's feet smashed down into the pier. The whole dockside shook, and the tires underneath the truck burst. All eighteen of them. Ugly screamed like a schoolgirl as it turned towards him, snarling like a mad dog. Nightwing and Robin only could a fleeting glimpse of it, what looked like blood red eyes... as the shadowy monster turned and leaped with impossible height. It smashed down into a building what sounded blocks away, amidst another explosion and car alarms blaring. It disappeared into the midst of Gotham.

Robin raced over to the truckside and threw pellets that put out the fire. As police sirens and firefighters sounded to be nearing, Nightwing left Two-Face sitting against a container, with his handscuffed behind him. He was as awstrucked as everyone else still left alive or concious at the scene.

"Da hell was in that truck?" he growled to himself.

Nightwing shrugged his head and raced over to Robin, who broke the handcuffs off Ugly Mannheim and dragged him over to safety. He was breathing heavily, babbling and incoherent. He wasn't going to be much help, no more than a frightened child having just faced the boogeyman.

"That was... unexpected. Any idea what that was?" Robin asked Nightwing. The older hero took a closer look at the insides of the truck. Or what's left of truck. With a flashlight, he peered inside, just as the authorities arrived on the scene, rolling in from where Two-Face's gang strolled in a few minutes before.

From the burnt out remains, Nightwing caught sight of... something. With a look of horror he spotted the charred crate, then hopped out and activated his comm systems.

"We need back-up" he said to Robin, and himself, with a deep sigh of almost annoyance.

_Hall of Justice, Washington D.C.  
March 16th, 2017  
9:11pm EST_

"If this is still the best you got" Artemis told her protege, while sparring with her on the mat, "then I could have stayed home and watched wrestling with the girls!"

Artemis blocked and whipped a flying kick at Cissie, now called Arrowette. He young hero in training was more adept at fighting and archery than she was monthes ago, but Artemis reveled in the fact that the crimefighter to be still can't hold her own against her mentor.

Victor Stone (aka Cyborg) was off the side, enjoying the show as it were, on the shooting range. He finally harnassed a way to project sonic frequenices into a pulse blast, through a weapon the nanites in his body create... all by mental command. Disks came flying out of the walls, and he blasted them away from his arm-transformed cannon. While he still didn't enjoy being half-machine, he now had become adept in creating combat-ready weapons upon command. And he's even able to take command of the electromagnetic airwaves around him, the world is his to hack.

While he effortlessly synched on target with his right eye to the disks, and busily beat the records set on the range by the archers, Arrowette start to get the advantage on Artemis for once. She grabbed her teacher by the wrists before she could strike and threw her off balance. A bold move, she'd never been able to displace Artemis, not even a budge.

But Artemis flipped to the side with that move, barely missing a dropkick from Arrowette that could have finished her. With a sigh she looked up at her protege and joked, "Maybe able to whoop Diggle's butt, ya still don't have enough to best me!"

Arrowette dodged a swift thrust of one two, one two punch throws from her teacher. She grabbed hold and attempted to put Aretmis in a shoulder, then body lock. But just as always... Aretmis got the upperhand and knocked Arrowette to the floor.

"That's gonna be blue tomorrow..." Cyborg winced as he saw that last takedown.

But just as always, Cissie grunted in defeat, and got back up on her feet. She wiped the sweat off and walked off the pain. Alot this time.

"Getting better, no doubt about..." before Artemis could finish the peptalk, the intercoms came on in the sparring room.

"Aretmis, get everybody available down to operations" Superboy said over the comms. Artemis gave Arrowette a look then threw a bottle of water to her as the two wiped off and headed on down there.

"Coming tinman?" Artemis hollered from the other side of the gym. He smiled and clanked on over to join the ladies, as they all hurried down to the main operations room of the Hall of Justice. A few minutes passed, and they were met the clicking and whirling of Sphere. It "greeted" them, then rolled back over to Superboy, who was busy staring at the screen.

"What's the sitch?" Arrowette asked, as the small group gathered around.

"Just got a call from Nightwing, in Gotham" Connor said, as he tapped the keyboard and repeated a recorded message. Took a little while to get through do to interference from all the Apokolips tech at the scene. It was Nightwing alright on his personal comm.

_"Nightwing to Superboy. We were on our usual patrol here in Gotham... a gang bust gone awry with Two-Face in the mix. Then things have took turn, explosions, collaterall... heavy on the DIS. We need backup. Whatever you can get your hands on. It's going to be a long night."  
_  
Artemis saw this was serious, but was apprehensive at the thought that they were the only ones close enough on standby. The night shift left her, Superboy, and the rookies... the only ones around to help. Arrowette was almost grinning at the prospect of what this message meant, Cyborg looked at the carnage behind Nightwing and gulped.

"Connor... Nightwing never asks for help unless he really... _REALLY_" Artemis asked in a private tone towards Superboy, trying to have a chat away from the ears of the rookies.

"You think I don't know that?" Superboy said with a mix or sarcasm and worry.

"I mean, can these guys handle whatever's going on. If this alert's _heavy on the dis_, there's no telling what we could be walking into."

"Heavy on the dis?" Arrowette asked a loud, then turned to Cyborg who could only shrug.

"Ciss, this is a..."

"A mission? A real official mission. That's kinda what it sounds like to me, ahhh... or maybe not. _Sensei_" Arrowette replied back, anxious for action.

Artemis rolled her eyes and turned back to Superboy. "See what I mean?"

"They're gonna have to get their feet wet sometime, Artemis."

He ended the conversation then and there and headed over to the zeta beam station. Artemis wasn't going to bother arguing against the Kryptonian. She scracthed her head, then with grevious thought against it, turned back to Cyborg and Arrowette.

"Well kids, guess school's in session. Suit up, excpet you already... nevermind. Just move out... tonight's your first league mission."

"Roger that." Cyborg said with some unease. Arrowette had to hold it in, to keep from squeeling like a teenage cheerleader.

And with that Artemis and the recruits left to stock up for their trip to Gotham City.

_Gotham City  
March 16th, 2017  
9:21pm EST_

Back at the harbor docks, Nightwing and Robin were surveying the damage left behind from the battle, and the mysterious escapee. From atop a nearby roof, they saw Morgan Edge, and the other Intergang thugs were being carted off by the police, as were Two-Face and his goons in a seperate squad van. Ugly Mannheim, was whimpering and being hauled into the back of a paramedic emergency vehicle, which was waiting on the firetrucks still at the scene putting up the remnants of the explosions.

"Bruno was a lot tougher the last time we saw him" Nightwing said to Robin with his arms crossed, somewhat in a disappointed tone.

"Guess getting your brain scrambled by aliens takes it out of you" he replied back, looking over collected evidence. "Made it easier I suppose for whoever it was to stroll in and help Whisper knock him down the corporate ladder."

Just then, Robin looked up and saw a familiar figure hurtle down toward them. Superboy dropped down onto the roof with a familiar thud.

"Couldn't just wait down there with all of them?" he asked Nightwing.

"Hello to you too, Supes. And no... we prefer our air of shadowy reconisance quite nicely."

"Dweeb" Superboy smiled and patted his friend on the shoulder. Before Robin could speak, he heard another loud thud. After having been rocketboosted into the air from the ground, Cyborg slammed down to join the heroes.

"Sup" he said, facing Robin.

"Nice to see ya, Vic. Been working the tech since last."

"Have lots of free time now" Cyborg replied with an laugh, as he he morphed back his boosters.

Before the pleasantries could continue, Nightwing caught sight of Artemis and Arrowette zip lining down in, from a rooftop across the way.

Arrowette was humming a sorta of heroic tune as she shoot on down alongside Artemis. She landed and did a gymnastic roll, that landed her feet first next to Cyborg. She was pretty proud of herself.

"Show-off" Cyborg saide while looking down at the blonde archer.

Aretmis shook her head, she was regretting this already. She maybe good in a fight, but she was still a cocky rookie that hasn't fought in tandem with other heroes in the field, especially for whatever caused the mess she was looking at now down on the docks with all the authorities.

"Nightwing, Robin. Not often we get called in to your stomping grounds. What's up?"

Since Artemis was getting right to the point, Nightwing silently obliged and opened up his holographic wrist computer. It displayed crimescene photos taken. "We had... complications, during a crimebust on Intergang."

"Their new leader?" Superboy asked

"No... Two-Face decided to crash the party" Robin revealed. As the older teammembers discussed the scene, Cyborg and Arrowette stood aside and looked at the carnage left behind at the docks. And the swath of city far off, with smoke, torn up buildings and fires breaking out.

"Mini-Godzilla roll up in here?" Cyborg turned and asked Arrowette, who was growing less enthusized about the first mission.

"Don't tell me we got called in for one of your rogues' gallery?" Artemis inquisited.

"Nope. For this." Nightwing pulled up the photo he took of the interior of the burnt out 18wheeler. "Look familiar?"

"Is that..." Artemis didn't even have finish the sentance, Superboy peered in, and with a look of shock he recognized it.

It was a CADMUS cryotube. Something grown by the Light's private cloning facility was in that cryo-container. And now it was running amok through Gotham.

"Damn" was all Artemis could muster up.

"That's impossible, Intergang doesn't have the connections or the resources to..."

"They worked with the Light, Conner" Nightwing stopped Superboy short, "which means they had the access to probably rip CADMUS off!"

"What exactly are we dealing with, ahem." Arrowette butted in to ask the obvious question for the newbies.

"It's a cryotube used by one of the Light's operations, a Genomorph cloning facility." Robin explained

"Right, the ones that made Red Arrow and clo... ahhh, yeah" Arrowette stopped herself since she was standing right next to Superboy at the time the thought passed.

"Whatever."

"What Nightwing's trying to say" Artemis butted in "is that they think Intergang ripped off the tech, and made their own superhuman clone. A big one at that."

"Exactly, and while we were hoping more of the league was on shift to deal with this... the six of us are going to have to take this thing down."

"Handle the situation?" Superboy angrily asked. "You make sound like we're exterminators."

"No offense Connor, but this thing is dangerous, whatever it is. It could be another Kryptonian powerhouse, or worse yet... another failed monster like Match."

"Could be a clone of any one of the major leaguers!" Robin finished wiht his two cents.

"You see danger, bird boys. I see a scared kid that's been in a cage too long, trying to be drilled into a weapon. Just because it's powerful doesn't mean it's a threat!"

The tension was getting pretty heavy.

"Does Intergang have anything to say?" Artemis tried to divert the current line of questions.

"Mannheim's not exactly in a talkative mood, and Whisper's in the wind." Nightwing explained with frustration.

"So that just leaves finding it I suppose..." Cyborg figured.

"THEN I SUPPOSE WE SHOULD STOP CALLING IT... _IT_" Superboy yelled back to the rookie, startling the metal man and Arrowette.

"Superboy, we know you don't want anything bad to happen to possibly your kid brother or something..." Artemis butted in as Superboy was getting in Nightwing's face and very tempramental. "But we have to rein whatever this is before he hurts someone. We can't be holding back if this thing is wild and ready to kill anything that moves!"

"Because all clones are just like that, mindless animals?!"

"You know that's not remotely what I meant, Connor!" Artemis arguing back poking her finger at Superboy's chest.

"That swath of destruction doesn't point to it really wanting to be friends with anybody" Nightwing responded.

"I'm saying we try to reason with it, before we just up and decide to categorize it as something that needs to put down!"

"Superboy, take a breath. And Nightwing, would you just..."

Cyborg took his metal fingers and let out an almost robotic whistle from his mouth. The ear-ringing sound got the rest of the team's attention.

"Does anybody else think maybe we should REALLY be out lookin for that thing, rather than standin' here figuring out whether to stop it with hugs or not!?"

The obvious question from the rookie got cooler heads to prevail. Nightwing and Superboy turned from each other, not willing to admit each other's wrongs.

"This is a fun first mission" Arrowette said to herself. "I don't pretend to understand the backstory going on with clones, the Light, or even of the nature vs nurtue stuff. All I know is that Superman's possibly crazy clone is on the loose like a one-man army. We gotta take this thing down before people get killed, so how about he find him... or her, never really got genetics ahem... and decide what to do then. Some place with less property damage involved!"

Nightwing and Superboy gave eachother silent glances, then with thoughts from both, they nodded in agreement.

"Fine." Nightwing said, knowing full well he should have expected this having called for back-up.

"Yeah. Find the clone first." Superboy said as well. He made his leave in a powerful leap and bound, following the path left by the clone.

"Soooo, right. We split up and cover the path this thing left, try to find it and stop it before it causes more damage." Artemis told the recruits, trying to compose the palpable atmosphere. "Stay sharp."

Artemis, Robin, and Arrowette took point and followed East, while Cyborg left with Nightwing off the rooftop to trail behind Superboy.

The path this creature left was easy to track, smashed buildings and downed lines, heavy footprints imbedded in the pavement, as well as crumpled cars it stomped on and broken glass lines every which way. Everything it touches seems to be destroyed.

The older leaguers had concern and different ideas of how to handle this clone, enough to nearly come to blows. Superboy felt strongly about the genomes and clones, enough to defend their lives as being worth enough to reason with them. Not just pummel and restrain them like dogs on the rampage. Artemis stayed in contact, trying to keep both the recruits... as well as Superboy and Nightwing in line. Four different children to deal with. Robin seemed the most level headed one next to her tonight.

The destruction was clear cut and fortunatly not causing enough lethal harm to bystanders... yet. But as Artemis and Arrowette followed along the rooftops from one end of the city, they find it had gone cold. The clone managed to rip into the subway systems below. Robin followed after it first, arriving at a station where it had been run into by an halting subway. He spotted and took pictures of the fingerprints it had embedded. The archers and Tim knew that this thing could be anywhere in the city now, with the array of subway tunnels it could follow.

_"Artemis to Superboy. We lost it down in the tunnels, whose it look from the sky?"_

Superboy was calmly peering down above the city with his arms crossed, his eyes closed. He was listening for some sort of sign. Millions upon millions of voices, screams and cries, the scum of Gotham. He hated listening to this city, it was more brutal and rough than Metropolis or any other city his friends patrolled.

As he stood atop a gargoyle on a high skyscraper, below were Cyborg and Nightwing on another rooftop in view.

"Trying to get a lock on whatever this clone is, a DNA singal, some electromagnetic pattern or something..."

Cyborg was having no luck with his optics scanner. "All I know for certain is that it's definatly alien. And strong the way he's smashing through everything like tissue. Hope these nanites are up to the task!"

"Harder to obtain kryptonian than human league DNA, that's for sure. One more connection to the Light's resources being involved in this operation. They'd have never sanctioned something this dangerous without more manpower. No way Two-Face could have strolled in and caused this thing to escape." Nightwing speculated.

"But why, I thought Intergang was part of the Light?" Cyborg asked astutely.

"The gang's boss and righthand lady got lobotimzed by the Light for stepping out of bounds, a show of force for their other agents. Given the timetable, between now and when they finally woke up... and when the new boss stepped in to take command with Whisper... I figure they stole dna and tech out of revenge, then went underground for the cloning process. Without facilities, it makes the cloning slower than in CADMUS."

Cyborg didn't understand the supervillain thought process at all. He shook his head while trying to get a feed on anything. Just then, Superboy caught hint of some kind of roar, a monstrous sound coming from not far off. He pinpointed it and leaped off into the night towards it.

"Guess that's our que! Artemis, meet us up at our signal!" Nightwing responded on his comms.

Ten minutes later, after the archers and Robin made it back to the surface, following their end of the trail that remained... they arrived a few blocks to see Cyborg and Nightwing overhead. They hurried along racing through the streets and back alleys. They began spotting the MO of this clone, heavy footprints and rampant collateral damage everywhich way, as well as car alarms on the toppled vehicles.

Any other city and police would have locked down the whole area, in Gotham the police don't show up in force unless absolutely necessary... like an INVASION of aliens, Not one the capes can handle.

The teenage heroes all met back up outside of a wrecked biker bar. It was mostly wrecked possibly before the alien clone showed up. Bikes were crushed with bare hands, and bikers astrewn and comatose on the street, apparently tossed out of the building. As they arrived at the bar, Nightwing recognized a regular ruffian of this part of town, Johnny Rancid, racing out of the front door without a shirt of jacket, but a big bloody nose and fat lip. He was also missing his trademark chains as he hopped on what was left of his bike and a frantic getaway.

"I have a hunch our... friend" he said with unease while turning to face Superboy, "is in there."

"You don't suppose the clone stopped here for a HELLLLLOOOOOO..." Arrowette was asking her mentor Artemis something when she was caught by suprise. She turned in aghast suprise after unfortunatly witnessing a fat biker run out of the establishment... without pants. Not a picture that was going away without more brain bleach. The fat bearded thug with "Ding Dong Daddy" on his t-shirt huffed and slowly tried to run away as well, clearly out of shape and out of breath.

"Okaaaaay then" Robin said with disgust, Artemis did a facepalm as this was not turning out to be a good night.

"I really should have stayed home with the girls to watch wrestling" she mumbled to herself.

"This stuff usually happen on regular missions?" Cyborg asked Superboy with a raised eyebrow.

He shook his head.

"Right, so what's the plan then?" He then asked.

"While the clone's having a drink... We could circle around the place, with some of us going in front... then as a distraction so the rest come in behind to take him by..." as Arrowette tried to think up strategy, the older leaguers butted.

"He can probably hear us planning on how to sneak up on him" Nightwing then had to remind the young eager archer.

"Oops"

"Let's just charge the place, and see what we're dealing with." Artemis then said while patting her protege on the shoulder. Strategy wasn't her strongsuit, nor was surroundings.

"And we'll... _try_ to reason with it" Nightwing reiterated, he was open to Superboy's method first. He then turned to him and said. "You go first"

Superboy agreed with a nod, then like a regular John Wayne he stomped on into the bar, as the doors swung open inward. The place was smashed up and in shambles, with bikers laying bloody by alive everywhich way. The tap had been gutted and was leaking alchol all over the place. Superboy cautiously strolled in, as the rest of the heroes followed in behind him, with Artemis and Arrowette notched with their bows and guarding the door. Robin hopped up on the bar and took out gizmos from the ready. Superboy, Nightwing and Cyborg moved in to the 2story divebar, trying to locate their quandry.

Then they stopped cold to hear something over by the pooltable to their right. A massive jar of eggs was being drunk down by what was possibly the rampaging clone they were following. With the eggs and juicies gone, it threw the giant glass jar in their direction and let out a burp. From their end, the three could see a tall and imposing figure, with short black hair almost like dreadlocks. It had acquired a biker's outfit from the various thugs he laid waste to, and managed to eat and drink everything in sight, including what appeared to be some of the furniture. Quite a mess, and not exactly the scared and confused clone Superboy was expecting. He noted the creature had chalky white skin, which meant it very well could be another failed Kryptonian like Match.

With uneasiness he approached it, but the clone sniffed the air caught wind of Superboy. It started to growl.

"Just take it easy. I know you must be confused but... you need to come with us."

The clone turned fast to face the arriving heroes, with Rancid's chain and hook swung around his waist and assorted guns latched onto his belt and pants. It was then with a shock that the heroes caught a glimpse of the clone, as it stared them down with yellow teeth and piercing red eyes, while also taking a massive drink from a beer stine.

_**KA REI... KA REI!?**_it roared in an alien language, while tossing the stine into the pool table, smashing it. He then filled his hands with two shotguns he picked off the local bikers.

"Oh boy" Cyborg said aloud after seeing the fearsome sight in front of them.

"Un... real" Artemis said as well.

"It can't be" Nightwing then said.

"This was... really unexpected." Robin stated the obvious.

Superboy was at a loss for words, he was anticipating a genome, or another carbon copy of Superman in front of him to try and reason without a fight.

"I've seen this guy on the news, he's..." Arrowette remembered back to early 2016. A pre-pubescent version... of LOBO. A bounty hunter who was feared and ruthless, not to mention as unstoppable as any Kryptonian. Maybe even more powerful.

_**YAGH FRAG**_

Lobo's half-baked, but tall and musclebound, clone charged them screaming while blasting away from the shotguns.

Nightwing and Cyborg ducked for cover from the shotgun blasts, while Superboy took the brunt of the clone's impact. He was knocked clear through the the bar... and wall, outside into the parking like, as if hit by a freight train. The clone collided with a electric pole head first, snapping it half like a twig. He shook it off with a grunt, then turned his attention back on Superboy.

But as he approached closer, he was assaulted by a barrage of arrows. They barely nicked him, with most of the sharp quivers breaking off or getting embedded in his arms as if shooting at boulders. He saw the two female archers firing away at him, while Superboy got back on his feet.

**Kezzy Fem!** he hollared back at them, while taking a pistol out of his boot and shooting at them. They ducked back inside through the hole he put in the bar.

"This guy's a day old, how does he know how to handle firearms!?" Artemis yelled in frustration, while notching a higher-steel fiber arrow. She launched it at Lobo, who caught it snapped it in half as he stomped towards them. Unfortunatly he noticed too late that the shaft had an explosive on it. It blew up in his hand and knocked him across the street into a storefront window.

"You okay there, Superboy?" Cyborg raced over to the kryptonian as the heroes regrouped.

"Yeah. Can't say the same about him though. Not a scratch!"

"Still want to talk him down?" Robin asked with a look to Superboy

"How is this possible, that clone... is Czarnian!" Nightwing asked perplexly aloud.

"The alien that attacked the UN last new years, I think I remember" Arrowette chimed in.

"Lobo" Artemis told her protege. "He was a tough SOB, all we could do was slow him down."

"Wonder Girl managed to go one on one with him" Robin corrected Artemis, with a hint of sincere recollection for his girlfriend's proud fight against the alien bounty hunter.

"Yeah... maybe enough to leave a blood sample behind for the Light!" Nightwing postulated.

Unfortunatly their little quick anaylsis on the clone was cut short, when the Czarnian let out a howl of rage and punched his way outside. The entire front of the building toppled over like a sack of potatoes out into the street. The clone clawed his way through the falling rubble.

**YAGH FRAG! KOH RAGA ZO FRAG!**

"Any idea where he picked up the alien?" Arrowette inquired, "Doubt Intergang tought him that."

"Cyborg. Try to tap into our comms with an Interlac program at the Hall of Justice" Superboy said, "If we boost the signal, we might be able to talk to this bruiser before he does more damage."

"I'll try, might take a while." Cyborg pulled up a holographic display and got to work, setting up a download time.

The clone roared and charged at them like a rhino.

Superboy hesitantly obliged the bloodthirsty clone and charged right back into him. The two collided with sheer force that shattered the glass for the whole block, in a concussion blast. The two pummeled each other, as Superboy strived to knock him into submission, while the clone was all by assured to kill him.

Robin and Nightwing let loose bola lines to try and contain the clone, while Arrowette fired an arrow that would create foam to imbolize him.

The Lobo knockoff ripped the tethers like plastic, and caught the foam only on the arm, as a big glob of it hardened around his fist and right arm. He whopped Superboy right in the face with the foam, shattering it and sending Superboy flying into a another building.

"Sorry!" Arrowette hollared over to Superboy, "WOOOAHHH!" she then screamed as she ducked and attempted to block the clone's attacks now trained on her. Artemis give him a flying kick to the face that did nothing but turn his attention on her. She grabbed her by the foot and flung her into a parked car. Robin took out his bo staff and got in a few good jabs, as he knocked the guns the clone was reaching for right out of his hand. He responded by snapping the bo in half, then grabbing a parked motorcycle nearby and trying to hit Robin with it. He missed by inches.

Cyborg helped Artemis up, then grabbed the punch buggie and slammed into the clone.

"No punch back!" he said, as the clone ripped the car in half and pile drived both his fists into Cyborg. He was smacked face first into the concrete street, while Nightwing daring climbed onto the Lobo clone's back. Flinging his arms around his throat he jammed two tasers into his his ears and tried to cook his brains, it didn't knock him out or even phase him. The clone backflipped with Nightwing hung onto him. And like a wrestler he landed on Nightwing with monstrous momentum. Nightwing had cracked several ribs from that deadly trick as the clone got up and spit a luggie next to the downed hero.

**PLEA TOH SCUZ, SHIKAKA LOS**

Nightwing didn't know Czarnian, but he assumed that the clone... was telling him to stay down, the way he was viciously looking down at him and pointing. Cyborg took the chance to fire a sonic blast at him, while Robin whirled explosive birdarangs at him. The blast dragged him through the street, his feet dragging up the concrete, while the birdarangs caught him off guard. Artemis flanked him and gave Arrowette a signal.

"Hope this works" Arrowette said to herself as she pulled out a black arrowshaft with a heavy metal tip. It had a warning label across it. With unease, Arrowette fired one, while Artemis fired another from her end of the street. The two collided with each other in front of the Lobo clone, causing a photon explosion that rocked the block and sent the Czarnian flying into the rooftops above. Before he landed, Superboy was there and waiting, and with a giant leap he punched the clone square in the jaw. He was hurtled four blocks away by the strike.

A guy sleeping in his chair, apparently while eating greasily fried chicken, was startled by the clone's smashing through half of his living room.

_**FRACKIN KAZA YAGH DOS FRACKA TOH FRAG**_**... **he managed to scream out while soaring through the air, and into the street below. He formed a crater with the impact, then shook himself off. He saw Superboy was leaping into the air, coming down for another assault, whilst Cyborg and the others where climbing along the rooftops.

He growled and leaped right into Superboy. The kryptonian was knocked off kilter like a billiard ball, smacking into the side of a deli and falling back down into the street. By the time he got to his feet and wiped some blood off the side of his mouth, the clone was gone.

"Where's the batmobile when you need it!?" Arrowette said aloud and and out of breath on the rooftop.

Cyborg caught a lock on the escaping clone, as it was leaping in giant bounds into the heart of Gotham now. He hopped into the air and blasted away as Superboy chased after the clone as well. Artemis and Arrowette desperatly tried to catch up along the roofs and with grappling hookshots. Robin glided and used grapplers, while Nightwing called up his personal bike and hopped on after getting street level. He zoomed off to try and outflank the superhuman clone.

Nearly into midtown Gotham, the Czarnian was hopscotching across rooftops, fracturing buildings and leveling the roofs themselves with each powerful landing and leap. But when it turned to see Superboy still in pursuit from a far, it roared like a beast and was caught offguard. A helicopter crashed right into him, without his notice. The tail was smashed off and it began to fall downward with firing and sparks erupting form the back. The clone was knocked off balance and fell hurtling downward. He left a body imprint like a snowangel in the metal helipad.

Superboy saw the falling helicopter and pounced down beneath it, trying to get to the parking lot below before it crashed. Police in a squadcar below saw the chopper about to crash down and ran out of their car. They ducked for cover, only to see a teenage boy with the Superman emblem on his shirt crushing their car instead, as he then caught the helicopter. With both fists he used all his strength to hold the copter steady, it's blades grinding and cutting up the pavement. After it finally shuttered off, Superboy plopped it down onto the street and helped the pilots out of their seats.

"Wow." one cop said as he helped the police pilots to their feet. As Superboy wiped his brow, he turned and realized where he was.

"You gotta be kidding me." he said to himself, realizing the clone had landed on the rooftop of a Gotham police precinct. The main one in fact. Superboy saw Cyborg zooming by overhead, as he dealt with the mess below. Cyborg hovered over the roof of the precinct, only to find where the Lobo clone landed... but no sign of the clone. He did spot a fire exit door crunched open like a can of sardines.

"Guys... he's in the building!"

Inside the precinct, the cops were swarming out of the building to the scene of the nearly crashed helicopter, while others were responding to calls like crazy from the battle being raged against the League and the "giant white gorilla".

"City must be going nuts" the fat detective Bullock said while hanging up the phone. He scarfed a donut down while continuing to talk and spilling crumbs all over.

"We got Two-Face blowing up half the pier, buildings being demolished all over, people claiming it's an ape... now we got men downstairs cause choppers are falling out the sky like kites. Da hell's going!?"

"Wasn't an ape!" a gnarled voiced yelled out from a cell.

"Say again, Harv?" Detective Bullcok turned and walked over to the booking cell, where stood Two-Face and some of his thugs.

"I said it wasn't no _Great White Gorilla _on the damn loose. It looked like some roid-raging punk in Juggalo makeup!"

"Just what this town needs, another rampaging clown on the loose!"

"I think you assholes better call in the army, cause you'll need a tank against this guy..." Two-Face snarled through his teeth and maimed face like a cobra, hissing in delight at the fat detective.

Bullock slamed the cage with his fist. "Nobody asked you, gruesome."

As Two-Face backed away, one of his thugs jumped up, his eyes bulging out as he yelled "WHAT THE HELL!?"

Bullock turned to see a tall half-metal man burst into the squad room, the police all starting yelling freeze and drawing their guns.

"Easy... EASY!" Cyborg tried to calm the frantic officers.

"Hold it right there shopclass! Just put your hands where I can see 'em, and no monkey business!" Bullock yelled as he pulled his pistol on the young hero.

"That some kind of alien?" one officer mumbled as he stood beside his desk drawing down at the half-human half-robot.

"No, but I'm here with the Justice League... trying to track down the alien causing all this ruckus before somebody gets killed!"

"And I thought clowns were bad" Harvey said, still drawn on Cyborg. "You telling me this six foot maniac, that busted up the bikers and half of Gotham... he's some Killer Klown from outer space?!" Bullock and the GCPD had seen enough aliens to last them a lifetime.

"Look, this is all really hard to explain, and it's my first night on the job" Cyborg said with a exasperated shrug. "That alien busted in here and I need all your men ready to help, this guy's a tough one to takedown.

"Only you idiots could loose a giant white alien right under your noses!" Two-Face cackled at the cops from behind the bars. Bullock gave him a deathstare then turned back to Cyborg.

"Hold your fire guys, I think junior here's legit. Alright then hotshot, where's this one-man wrecking crew you League boys been chasing down?"

Bullock got his answer when an explosion rocked the building. The lights failed and sirens began to blare with red emergency lights now on. Standard protocal from a bomb threat, but more than likely it was the Czarnian.

"Where did that come from!?" Bullock yelled to one of the officers.

"Came from the armory downstairs!"

Cyborg just realized what the clone was after. BIGGER GUNS.

He and Bullock hurried downstairs, while he tried to scan and get a lock on the clone. He got a bleep just as he and the cops rushed through the stairwell door, but then one of them bolted around the corner and screamed "LOOK OUT!"

They ducked and hit the floor as a hail of machine gun fire ripped through the walls. Bullock fired off rounds while lying on the floor in cover. The clone stomped on by, as Bullock and the others fired away. The bullets bounced right off his skin like armor. Shotguns and pistols did nothing to even slow the clone down.

Cyborg saw the carnage, but realized as the clone fired back with assault rifles and heavy clips of some rather big guns... he was aiming to kill them. He turned and showed his fearsome red eyes and blasted away, with Bullock and the cops ducking into open doorframes to avoid fire. Cyborg then got to his feet and fired a sonic blast as him that knocked some of the guns out of his hands. Cyborg then charged him like in his football days and pummeled him into the linolium floor.

The clone kicked him into the ceiling and knocked him off. But just as he got up, he doubletaked and saw Superboy piledrive into him. The czarnian was smashed clean through a door and into a large lock-up room, his weapons all askew.

Superboy helped Cyborg up on his feet.

"How's that translation coming, Cyborg?"

"Almost done, just need to hold that guy here long enough for you to chew the fat with... what... the..."

Cyborg turned to see the clone in the doorway, smiling while holding a giant grenade launcher. He fired away and it blasted Superboy with some kind of greyish goo. He was ensared and throw into the adjacent wall.

"Crap, it's the Joker's sillyputty gun!" Bullock yelled as the cops all stood back.

"His what!?" Superboy hollared as he tried to remove himself from the hardening goop. Cyborg took a glance and scanned the room the clone was just in, apparently it was an evidence storage room... filled to the brim with weapons and tech used by incarerated supervillains.

**YAK-RAIISHU that thing does**_... _the clone said as he stared at the gun in his hands.

Cyborg and Superboy looked at the clone dumbfounded, as did the police. "That was... human! Supes, the interlac must have kicked in on our comms! I'm transmiting a signal now that works both ways for us and between him."

"The frack are... how come I understand you slags all of a sudden!?" the clone yelled back, evidently he was hearing them now in the Czarnian tongue.

"If that jerk can understand us, then let me read him his rights!" Bullock interjected as he came in closer with his gun pointed at the alien clone. The clone rolled his eyes and threw away the joker's gun, then he smashed the barrel of Bullock's and flattened it like a pancake. Bullock looked on in disbelief.

"LISTEN... to... US!" Superboy struggled to say as he tried to rip the sillyputt off and get down. "We don't want to fight you!"

"One fight's as good as any other." the clone shrugged with a smile.

"Fun time's over" Cyborg answered back, with his sonic cannon now locked and loaded. "We know your blowing off steam or whatever since you just got outta that tank, but enough's enough! We can't let you wreck up the city and hurt anybody."

"If they're stupid enough to attack me or not get outta my way... it's their own fault."

"It's wrong and we'll take you down if we have to!"

"I'm not going back in a cage, EVER! And your not gonna get the chance to scramble my brains again, you fraggin scumwads!"

Superboy realized he thought they were with Intergang, trying to implant a control program like CADMUS did with him. It evidently failed, and made him somewhat more wild than even he was.

"We're not with the guys who did that... I'm just like you!" Superboy tried to explain.

"Just like what?!"

"I'm a clone!"

The Czarnian's eyes widened with that comment. And with it he smashed Cyborg out of the way and grabbed Superboy, pulling him out of the hardened goo by the throat.

"WHAT ARE YOU SAYING!?"

"They... cloned... me. Just. Like. You. Had me in a little cyrotube like the one youuuuu... were in. I know what it's like to have information put in your head... to try to be made into something your not. To not even have memories"

"Your scent. It's... familiar. I... don't know what most of those words mean... but it makes more sense than anything I've known. I just... know things, but not why I know them. I have... nothing, and now your saying I'm like..." the clone started to somberly say, with actually emotion. But then he turned to see the cops looking up at him, in confusion and caution. He pained expression turned back into rage.

"No. NO you're nothing like me... I'M... I'm not some pale imitation. I'm the real deal... I'M UNSTOPPABLE!"

He threw Superboy into the swarm of police with a animal-like roar.

"YOUR TRYING TO MESS ME UP, LIKE THE TANKVOICE, FILLING MY HEAD WITH IMAGES... BUT I DON'T NEED THE IMAGES! I KNOW HOW TO SHOOT, HOW TO DRINK, AND HOW TO KILL! GET IN MY WAY AGAIN AND I WILL FRAG YOU WORMS ALL OVER THE WALLS!"

The clone stormed back into the evidence locker, while Superboy got up and raced after him. Cyborg followed right behind him, and fired away with a sonic blast. But as soon as they got to the door, the clone burst out into the hallway... riding atop a rocket!

"This is going to be one of those nights!" Bullock muttered to himself, as he took another cop's gun and blasted away at the alien, as he zoomed off in a fiery escape atop Roxy Rocket's jet-propelled steed of a, well rocket. The clone whizzed through the hallways past officers that shot away at him with bullets that bounced right off. He smashed through the first window he saw and with a insidious flare for the dramatic he did a barrel roll out into the night sky and zoomed upward. As he soared on through the air, Superboy and Cyborg leaped out after him in hot pursuit.

"GET COMMISONER GORDON UP TO SPEED, PEOPLE... LET'S GO! WE'RE HUNTING E.T. DOWN NOW!" Bullock was on the warpath as he got everyone mobilized and hopping into cars and choppers right after the escaping alien.

Nightwing spotted him from below as he zoomed in and out of traffic. "He just had to find the rocket-engine!"

He punched in commands to his bike, and it seperated from two wheels into one, with the back part of the cycle turning into a drone. Nightwing locked onto the clone as it whirled in for the assault.

The clone didn't appreciate the drone's pursuit, so he blasted it to pieces with a stolen assault rifle.

Dick called into the team, as he realized the airborne clone was getting closer to the river, to the city limits as he made his escape. "Nightwing here. I'm in pursuit! We need to force him back down NOW!"

"I'm going as fast as I can!" Cyborg called in as he was pushing the limits of his personal jets.

"We're one step ahead of you, Nightwing." Artemis radioed in. She and Arrowette had climbed their way up to the top of the twin-towers of the Gotham Life building. With a long string of cables and bolts attached, they took up position on both of the tower edges, with the clone in sight.

"Sure hope this is strong enough." Arrowette radioed in to her mentor.

"We just got to slow him down for Cyborg and the others. On my mark."

When the two archers both got the shot, Artemis yelled "FIRE!"  
Two high tension arrow shafts whirled through the night sky, imbedding with powerful force into the side of rocket. The clone was caught by suprise, as the steel cables on attached to the arrows held the rocket in place. The czarnian revved the engine to break free, but the cables held him in place in the air as he struggled to break free. Artemis and Arrowette had tied the cables all around the building to hold him, while they used wench controls for the windowwashers to try and reel the rocket in like a fish on a hook.

As the archers did this, Robin caught up from a rooftop in the shadow of the Gotham Life. "Where's Wonder Girl and her lasso when you need it." Then he got an idea.

He took out his grappler and fired at the ensnared rocket the clone was atop. With a third cable now attached, Robin used his strength likewise to pull the clone alien, to try and ground him. The clone was getting riled up and angry, especially as he ducked a sonic blast from the incoming Cyborg. He spotted the archers nearby and took out his rifle. He had a cleanshot at the red-clad female archer... but with a pain of some strange feeling that came over him, the clone missed. He fired over hers and the other archers head, making them duck for cover while fired upon their positions.

Eventually with Cyborg closing in closer, the clone tossed aside the gun and unfurled his stolen chain. With ferocitus might, he slashed through one of the cables attached to his rocket.

Artemis was knocked aside by the whip of the slashed cable from the rooftop below. Arrowette struggled to maintain her line. Robin saw what was happening and pressed a button on his grappler, which launched him into the air, pulling him in closer to the clone. With another powerful slash of the hook on his chain, another cable line cut loose. And with a elated roar of laughter, the clone howled and revved up the rocket.

"Oh, I wish I had a better idea than thhhhiiiiIIIIIIISSSSSSSSS..." Before he could zoom away, Arrowette jumped off the side of the building to Artemis' dismay.

She grabbed hold of the line as it unfurled, cathcing hold of the other half of cable still attached to the clone's runaway rocket. Arrowette held on for dear life as she tried to climb her way up the rope, twisting in the wind with the cable with the city below her. Robin was reeling himself in from his grappler, who gave Arrowette a wave. With one hand tightly on the grappler, he used the other to whirl a dagger in Arrowette's direction. She thankfully caught it and clutched it down into her boot so it didn't slip out, she didn't exactly have time to grab her bow.

With that done, Robin took out a special birdarang. He threw it, as it hit the throttle of the rocket and flashfroze the clone's hands to the controls. He paniced and tried to break free. He couldn't exactly continue up a climbing trajectory, but Arrowette and Robin were in for a ride now as the rocket began hurtling downward without the clone able to steer and control the elevation.

"Maybe that was a good idddeeaWOOOOAHHH" Robin yelled over to Arrowette as the two were towed downward with the falling rocket.

While the clone tried to steer to no effect, his red eyes bulged as he saw that the rocket was about hit a building. He smashed his head into the instant ice, breaking free his grasp as he pulled up on the throttle. With a sharp turn he avoided the building, but Arrowette was on a collison course now!.

"Bad day, bad day, bad day!" she hollared at the top of her voice, as she used all the skills at her disposal to keep from smashing into the building like a fly on a windshield. She hit it feet first and actually ran across the side of it, as she then pushed herself off and went back to dangling in the air behind the crazy rocket-riding clone. The clone spotted her skills, laughing to himself "Dodge this you kezzy fem!"

Robin and Arrowette watched with horror as the clone decided to play chicken... with an oncoming police blimp!

"DO YOU SEE THAT!?" One of the pilots yells looking out the window, as the albino and blue-scarred alien zoomed along the side of the blimp, dragging the two heroes along behind him. Arrowette twisted into the window out of the blimp's path fortunatly. But Robin had the misfortune to launch facefirst into the glass. He was hit hard and bleeding out his nose from that scuffle, as got dragged of by the force of the line he held for dear life to. His grasp however was starting to slip.

"Robin, hold on!" Arrowette yelled, but Robin lost hold of the grappler and started to plummet downward. But low and behold, Cyborg made a daring rescue as he knocked Robin back into the blimp, this time right on top of it. He was able to stand on his feet, while Cyborg hovered alongside of him.

"I owe you one, rookie!" Robin said as he wiped his nose. He was grateful.

"I have an idea how to land him once and for all" Cyborg then said as he tranangulated a lock back on the rocket.

"Whatta you got in mind, cause it better be fast. Arrowette doesn't have much time!"

"I got the Sonic if you have the Boom. Hop on!"

Robin took hold on Cyborg's back as he then blasted off, the two of them soaring back to catch up to the clone and Arrowette. Elsewhere behind him, Superboy was in hot pursuit with Bullock and several police helicopters on his tail, hoping to takedown the alien first. Nightwing let Artemis borrow his bike while he grappling and swung through Gotham.

Arrowette was a few feet away from the clone now, holding for dear life onto the cable. She took the dagger Robin threw to her out of her boot and readied to us it, figuring on aiming at the controls to disable them. But the clone caught sight of her.

"You got balls, fem! I'll give ya that. Be a shame now to have to kill you with the rest of your bunch!"

"That is of course if you were intending to actually kill us!" Arrowette yelled over the roar of the engine. "You had a clear shot, why didn't you take it!?"

The burning question only enraged the clone, who whipped his chain and slashed the dagger out of Arrowette's hand before he could throw it. The clone then made a sharp turn with his rocket, to try and drag Arrowette into the path of the engine. He revved it up to produce a powerful and incinerating flame.

Before Arrowette could feel the fire, Cyborg and Robin made their move. Robin leaped off Cyborg's back and did a midair summersault. By the time the clone realized the two were above his head, Cyborg fired away a sonic blast, while Robin let loose a sonic boomerang. The concussion of the two collinding created a powerful explosion. The clone took the brunt of it as he was knocked off his saddle-bound rocket engine and feel hurtling to the city below.

The aimless rocket was about to crash, but Arrowette let go of her cable and feel downward, right into the path of the rocket. She grabbed hold of it and took the helm. She hit the ignition back on and moved in after the falling clone, while Robin activated his glider system and Cyborg zoomed in after Arrowette.

The clone smashed through a glass ceiling, cursing in a mix of his and earth language. Without warning he plummeted into a huge tank of water. He howled almost in agony as he came up for air after the tsunami-like smashdown into the water.

"**** IT'S COLD!" He screamed as he struggled in the water. To which he realized in opportunly that he couldn't swim. He was sinking like a rock in the pool of water. Only to then be struck in the face by a large floating mass... of ice.

The clone had crashed into the center of the scenic "Iceberg Lounge", a nightclub operated by Oswald Cobblepot... aka the Penguin.

Water he didn't like, but frozen and the clone just loved it. He dug his fingers into the sheer ice, cracking it as he climbed up on top of the hunk of it to get out of the bonechilling water. As he did, he saw Arrowette carelessly zoom in after him through the hole in the glass he came in through. She tired to steer only to see an incoming colum in her trajectory. Cissie bailed out and landed hard into a dining table below her, smashing good china as well as the table with the impact. She rubbed her head in pain, but no concussion. The rocket then crashed into the column nearby and exploded with tremendous force.

"WAAAAAAH!" a fat bird-like man squaked. Cobblepot.

"Hooligans!" he yelled once more while pointing his flippers at Arrowette, "I'll sue you misbegotten crusaders for destroying my establishment!"

While Arrowette rolled her eyes as she got up, the bird came closer to her, now while pointing his infamous umbrella. But before he could unleash his dicatomous vocabulary, he sqawked even louder at the sight of one of his prized polar bears... being hurled through the air. He tried to hobble his way to safety, but the polar bear crash landed right on top of him as both went flying into the grandstand where a band might before the entertainment.

The bear was terrified as he climbed off the Penguin, unharmed, and ran off. Oswald layed unconcious and incoherent.

Arrowette got to her feet to see the clone having climbed his way out of the giant arctic tank. He blew his nose with a massive blue glob of snot. Then with his chain and hook in one hand, swinging it around like a lasso, he stomped his way towards her, knocking tables out of the way in a rage.

"I go out for ONE night on the town, have a drink and a few laughs... and what do I get!? Every meatbag in this scuzzbucket planet out for my head... trying to fill it with more junk!"

"What kind of junk, the kind that says who to kill and for whom!?" Arrowette wasn't trained for situations like this, but yet she stood her ground and tried to talk the alien down.

"I frag what I want when I want, my blood demands it! Not when a bunch of monkies try to drill into my skull!"

"It was the gang that put you in that tank that taught you that?"

"NO! I... I just knew it, knew how to do it all, but not why I needed to. Why I wanted it!"

"Guess your alien DNA works differently like that, genetic memory or something. I'm no geek, but it's a safe bet!"

"Geek, huh? No... you're kezzy fem about to be a bloodstain on the floor!"

"I really doubt that Little Lobo!"

"W-who?"

"Lobo... that's who you were grown from!"

The clone stopped in his tracks, staring down the weaponless female archer. "First that jerk with the same scent as the tank calls me that. Now you! What... what does that even mean!?"

"It means they grew you, from a piece of a bounty hunter. Like a cutting from a plant. You have his strength, his appearance, and his... attitude. For all intents and purposes, you suppose to be as bad as he is. A weapon for Intergang!"

The clone let all this sink in, realizing what drives him is what drived his... his father.

"You have ever right to be angry for what's happened, but you don't have the right to take it out on everyone else!"

"WHO DO I TAKE IT OUT ON THEN?!"

"Try the guys who wanted you to kill for them. Or people just as bad as them. I may not understand what your going through, but I can see... that deep don't you don't want to kill!" the clone seethed with anger on that last word.

"Tell that to half the scumwads I knocked skulls with, ya stupid fem! Half the city I laid waste to!"

"Sure... you like violence. You live off it. But you rejected their attempts to train you, to brainwash you into a machine. You like hurting things because there's nothing better to do. But YOU DON'T WANT TO KILL! THAT'S WHY YOU'VE BEEN RUNNING, TRYING TO GET AWAY! You maybe just like the thing they cloned out from, but your not defined by him, or by them. NOBODY CAN MAKE YOU INTO SOMETHING YOU DON'T WANT TO BE!"

Nobody. That word mattered. Nobody. No home. No family or even memories. Just the rage of the being he was grown from, the being he was suppose to become. A mindless and violent killing machine.

"You choose who to be...YOU. CHOOSE. " Arrowette finished as the clone leered down right into her face. His breath was atrocius.

But something sunk into him, that word. Choose.

"I choose..." he muttered. He dropped the chain and hook, throwing it aside. Arrowette looked up in relief to see his red eyes. Almost saddened.

"AHHHHHH! I need a drink." he slobbered, as he stomped over to the nearest bar and grabbed a bottle of anything... it didn't matter to him so long as it was strong. Arrowette could lean on the nearest table and catch her breath. It's been a long night and that shouldn't have worked in a million years. She looked up to see the clone already guzzle down a bottle and toss it aside.

As she walked over, cautiously, towards the clone, Robin and Cyborg made their entrance into the nightclub from above.

"Ahhhh... everything... OKAY?" Cyborg asked the female archer as she limped over to greet them.

"I think... so. I don't know what I did exactly, I just winged it like Batman and... talked to him"

The three turned to see the clone facing them with another bottle in hand.

"I don't think he wants to fight... with us at least anymore."

"Wow" was all Robin could say. "Nicely done." The two heroes weren't about to go introduce themselves and buy him a round, but the fact he wasn't trying to kill them all was a step up after the night they just had.

"Okay, geek. Ya got me pinned right. I... I don't want to kill. Those jerkwads wanted me to be their little pet on a leesh to sick on anyone that crossed 'em. I HATE THEM FOR THAT. But I can't help dying for the action. It's in my blood, literally! I need to fight, but I guess that's how my kind is... how _Lobo_ is."

"Well... join us then."

"WHAT!?" the clone, Robin, and Cyborg all said aloud.

"The Justice League... is a place to belong. You'll get a helluva lot of fighting... but for the good guys. You'll have a place to stay, and a chance to figure out what you're made of. Without destroying half a city in the process."

The clone turned to her and laughed.

"You... you expect me to just, just join you guys!?

"Nobody's forcing you. It's your choice." That word again, as the archer proudly crossed her arms while addressing the clone.

It was then that sirens began whirling outside, along with searchlights from helicopters, as police began to swarm the place.

"Keep in mind that you should expect alot more heroes and cops after you like tonight if you intend to go lone wolf renegade!" Robin reiterated.

The clone scratched his ears and mulled over the crazy idea. Just then Superboy leaped into scene, likewise through the whole above in the glass. He shook the floor with his landing, as he approached Arrowette adamently.

"Are you drzu-gahks really suggestin'... that after all the trouble I caused, all the damage I done, all the baggage included without me... that I should seriously join up with you?!"

"Yep." Arrowette punctuated as the clone inched closer, while Cyborg slowly armed his sonic cannon in case. Superboy couldn't believe what he was seeing, or that Arrowette managed to make it possible.

The clone let out a bellowing roar of laughter, for almost a good minute.

"Okay." Little Lobo then said in a dead serious tone.

"Welcome aboard." Superboy said, extending a hand, while Arrowette smiled and the other two looked perplexed and uneasy with the idea of working with Lobo's son.

The clone looked at the hand. "You... shake it." Superboy explained.

With a slight chuckle, he grabbed the kryptonian's fingers and LITERALLY SHOOK HIS HAND UP AND DOWN.

"Oh brother" Cyborg said with a metal facepalm.

"I figure anyone tough enough to take me one on one deserves fighting alongside. Hope your enemies are worth it!" the clone told Superboy. "I promise not to go easy on them." he finished with an malicious smile.

"I guarantee it, big guy. But we better make our leave real quick. We'll try to sort things out with the cops and the AOC later." If the League could sort it out, then Wayne Enterprises would gladly fit the bill with helping repair Gotham after the night's events. They wouldn't ever ask questions.

"So where do I get to crash?"

A collective _uhhhhhh _came from the heroes. They couldn't even think of where to keep a destructive clone like him in check, or comfortable.

_"Artemis has a knack of taking in stray aliens", _Nightwing chimed in from over the comms, "_Starfire could always have a room..."_

_"DON'T EVEN FINISH THAT SENTANCE, DICK." _Artemis sternly replied back over the comms.

Not to be picky... but after being cooped up in that damn tank... and chased through this cagey little city, I'd prefer someplace... open. If I have any say in the matter like the geek says.

The nickname was unfortunatly gonna stick as Arrowette feared. But Superboy's eyes beamed open at the idea that popped into his head.

"Tell ya what. You keep your anger in check, play by our rules... and I know of a place where you can all the open air and land, away from civilization. In Kansas!"

"Don't what a Kansas looks like... but DEAL. This wolf needs a place to run without worrying about squashing you apes!"

"Wolf... you know what a wolf is?" Cyborg asked.

"One of the scuzzheads whose clothes I took mentioned it, liked the sound of it, thought it fit. Suppose to be the toughest animals you got in this dump, am I right?"

"I remember an old story in high school... the son of the Wolf" Arrowette thought back to old english classes while abroad in Ireland for a time, that bored her to death. "WEYLYN"

"Huh?" Robin asked as she brainstormed.

"We can't keep calling him clone, or Little Lobo... or IT"

"I suppose..." Superboy cautiously said, while the clone looked on, growing a little annoyed at them talking about him right to his face as if it weren't there.

"It means SON... of the WOLF. Weylyn."

"That your idea of a name, geek? I like the sound of it... actually. WEYLYN."

Weylyn let out a little chuckle as his red eyes looked up past the searchlights circling them. Out into the stars. He had a reason to fight... and now he had a name which gave him enough reason to belong to this world.


	5. Red Hood

**Story by Darksuperboy**

**Written by Zor-Alov**

* * *

Dakota_ City_  
_April 18th, 2017_  
_9:00pm CST_

"Drive!" a grey-haired executive yelled to the driver in the front of the limo, as it careened out of a parking garage of an office building, and down a back street at breakneck speeds.

The man sat back in his leather seat, paniced and looking every which way out of the window, as the heavily armored limosine tried to escape some unseen threat. Accompanied by four armed guards, Edwin Alva knew his life was in danger. He had to get out of the city, two attempts were already made on his life... but because of his connections he can't go to the police.

As the limo speed along the nearly deserted streets of Dakota City, to the bridge that spans over Paris Island and out of the city's limits, a winged figure swooped out from a highrise balcony. It descended right upon them unseen as it slamed atop the limosine with a loud bang.

"GET DOWN!" one of Alva's bodyguards shouted as he dropped to the floor of the car. The bodyguard pulled out a shotgun and rolled down the sidewindow, sticking himself out to take a shot at the attacker. He fired off several shots before the figure... or creature, dragged him out of the limosine and threw him into a nearby parked car. Another bodyguard fired off rounds from an AK-47 as the figure disappeared between two buildings. Rolling the window back up, the guards banged on the front window to the driver's seat. "TAKE THE TUNNEL, WE NEED TO GET BELOW GROUND FAST!"

With a sharp U-turn following the new directions, the limo took a hard left towards the tunnel under the East River, that could get Edwin out of the city. Swerving in and out of traffic, Edwin was a nervous wreck. Individuals like himself with ties (however small) to the Light were dropping like flies these days. He climbed back into his seat while gripping a briefcase with both arms, while noting the panic also in his own bodyguards. It wasn't the winged freak that worried them... it was the man in the red mask that could be after them.

Just as Edwin was nerve-wracked enough, the limo suddenly grinded to a halt. Climbing up to the driver's window, he saw the idiot had stopped for a redlight. "Forget the lights, you idiot! I NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE" he barked

"There's a cop over there whadda want me to.." before the driver could finish that sentance, pointing out the police car stopped on the other side of the intersection, a shot was fired. A rocket projecticle struck the back of the limosine in a fiery explosion. One of the bodyguards is knocked forward onto the floor by the blast, but the limo remains in tact thanks to the armor. As the police car nearby turns on it's sirens, a female officer rushes out of the car... until to come under sniper fire. Edwin Alva ducks as one of the bodyguards hurries out with a gun in hand to open fire, while Officer Trina Jessup takes cover in the front seat of her police car.

"Shots fired, I repeat, shots fired on the intersection of Jurgens and McDuffie..."

Another sniper round shatters her front window. From a distance aways upon a billboard advertising some reality show called _EXTREME JUSTICE: Starring Booster Gold,_ sits the sniper. Arsenal, the original Roy Harper who spent so many years in a Cadmus cryotube... now embittered and willing to go to any lengths for payback. With his cybrnetic and weaponized arm, he switches to rocket mode again and fires off another missle at the limosine down below. He hits a parked car nearby as the limosine furiously speeds backwards. Officer Jessup tries to get out and order the limosine to halt with her car speaker system, but a single bullet manages to fire right through the bodyguard nearby (killing him) and into her hand. She falls to ground clutching her hand, she'll live... unlike the bodyguard Edwin Alava leaves behind, as his limo swerves into a alleyway nearby.

"Hehehehe..." Arsenal chuckled to himself while tipping his newly acquired ballcap, "like baiting a rabbit for the kill"

Trina Jessup applies pressure to her hand, the high projectile round went straight through her but it hurt like hell. Lying on the ground behind her car door for cover, she calls in for back-up "OFFICER DOWN"

On that note, every police car and helicopter in the vicinity switched on sirens and made a beeline for the intersection under fire. Arsenal took this opportunity to high tail it off the billboard, while radioed in on an ear comm, "Drive 'em in, they're heading your way!"  
_  
"No problem" _a thick Puerto Rican voice said on the other end.

He leaped off the side of the railing and used his cybernetic arm to fire off a few light rounds into an adjacent window of a project building. The glass shattered before he burst through into the apartment, startling a couple sitting on the sofa. They grabbed their toddler on the floor while Arsenal ran right past them and smashed through the door, into the hallways he then raced down through.

Back outside, Edwin's limosine was nearing the tunnel, but with only two guards left is was going to be tight. As one bodyguard got under one of the seats, finding and passing along more ammo to the other bodyguard. Just then the roof was hit by another loud thud.

The other guard fired into the roof as the driver grinded into several parked cars to try and shake whatever was on top. The bullets pierced the ceiling as Edwin ducked back down with his briefcase over his head for cover, when all of a sudden two sets of claws pierced right back through the metal. With a powerful tear and a horrid shriek like a bird, the roof came off in a great big hole. Hovering right above them flapping her wings was a Bang Babie unlike any seen before, half-woman half-feathery nightmare. _Talon._

She hissed at Edwin Alva as he looked up upon her in terror, while whipping the AK-47 out of the bodyguard's hands with the razorsharp claws on her feet. She then grabbed him by the collar as he clutched his bloody hands and threw him out of the moving limo. He smashed with a backflip into a newstand, sending papers flying all over the street. She turned her attention back to Alva.

"I yem gonna enjoy makin you pay... for what jou did to me!" she hissed as she lunged at Edwin with her claws slashing. He feel back in his seat, petrified, but the remaining bodyguard in the car fired a few rounds from a handgun in his jacket holster. They grazed her wings as she recoiled in defense, then climbing back in through the hole in the roof to quickly slash at the bodyguard. His face was badly cut with three claw marks as he keeled over in pain. With a venemous smile she laughed, only to then let out a cry of pain herself, after being hit by a taser gun hidden in Edwin's briefcase. He cranked the juice nice and high to force Talon to retreat. She hopped off the car roof hissing with a yelp of pain, flapping away to safety.

As she did, Alva realized the driver had made it just in time to the tunnel, as Talon watched them disappear into the cement roadway underneath the river. No room to glide or fly, Edwin thought he was in the clear, on route to meet a private helicopter to safety. But as Talon looked on to metaphorically lick her wounds, she faintly smiled and tapped her earpiece comm. "Fire in dah hole!"

With that glorious note, Arsenal (who was several blocks over happily firing upon cop cars from the rooftop to draw their attention) recieved the word. He pulled out a detonater in his pants pocket, and hit the red button to trigger some explosive device.

Unbeknownst to Alva and his limo getaway, they drove right under it. Hidden detonation cords (compliments of LexCorp) activated in a fiery blast that effectivly sealed off the Dakota entrance of the tunnel. Edwin's limo was far enough in that he felt the blast, but couldn't see anything. The lights flickered on and off from the blast behind them.

"Not much further, just get me to the airfield while we've still lost them!" Alva yelled to his driver up front. His last bodyguard got to his feet and sat himself down, reeling from the dagger-like claws from the metahuman birdwoman. Edwin threw him a hankerchief from his jacket pocket then grabbed the pistol his guard dropped on the floor. He checked the ammo, 4 rounds left in the clip. While searching for another as the limo speed right along down the tunnel, strangely devoid of traffic. All of a sudden the lights died out, leaving them in complete darkness except for the headlights on the limo and in the cars now in front of them.

"It... it doesn't matter" Edwin said nervously to himself, then he looked with relief as light started to creep in from the exit to the tunnel. "There now we can..."

Alva was thrown into his seat facefirst by a sudden smash of the brakes. His bodyguard picked him up as Edwin hurried back to the driver's window and pounded on the glass.

"What the hell's a matter with... *GASP*" Edwin was crapping his pants the moment he looked out and saw the same thing as the driver. Stopping traffic up front in the lane... a lone figure in a black leather jacket and body armor, stood in the middle of the road before them, illuminated by the headlights. He was gripping an assault rifle in his hands, with his face concealed by a blood red mask and two dead white eyes peering out from them.

"Ooooohh, that's... that's **Red Hood**" Alva whimpered like a scared child as the figure silently stared them down, Edwin's eyes nearly bolting out of his head. "Didn't you hear me!? I said **THAT'S RED HOOD... I KNOW IT'S HIM**!"

The lone gunman started blasting away at the gridlocked cars, as some got out of their vehicles and ran in terror.

"GET ME OUT... GET ME OUT OF HERE!"

They had nowhere to go unfortunatly, the only way was forward and the gunman was pushing his way towards them. He leaped up on the hood of a taxi and started walking his way over the cars, blasting away at the bulletproof windshield of the limosine.

"_OH GOD_, HE'S HERE TO KILL ME!"

The driver tried to hit reverse, but as began moving back, the gunman whipped out several throwing-stars and blasted out the two front and the side tire. The limosine grined to a halt after poorly trying to reverse with sparks flying on the road.

"YOU HAVE TO, YOU HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!" Edwin yelled in terror to his last bodyguard. He turned with a look of fear and anger to his employer... then jumped out of the limosine door slamming it behind him. He ducked under a car and hide like a coward, a smart coward but still.

The gunman looked on in and gave a perplexed look... behind the red helmet of course. "So hard to come by good help these days... espeically since I've killed the good ones" he said to himself with a shrug. By then, he reached the hood of the limo and hopped down onto it with a thud, then peered down and looked into the eyes of the driver, holding onto the wheel for dear life.

The gunman then gave a light knock on the windshield he already riddled away with several bullets. "Hi, how are ya?"

He then started to kick in the windshield again and again, beginning to shatter it. After a final smash of his steel boot destroyed the windshield, the driver went for a hidden gun under the wheel.

"Wrong move" the gunman said as he switched to launcher mode on the rifle and fired a smoke grenade right at the driver's forehead. He knocked out cold and feel over in his seat, while smoke began to fill the limo. Tear gas that choked Edwin as he huddled on the floor of the car, blinded and watering up in his eyes. With no choice, Edwin hurried out of the car, blindly firing away with the pistol in his hand and running for cover. He didn't get far, gasping for air and turning hid head every which way trying to shot the gunman. But to no avail, Edwin not only didn't hit the gunman... as he looked on in annoyance, Alva ran facefirst right into the concrete wall of the tunnel.

He feel over flat on his butt, still coughing and trying to get the tear gas out of his eyes. As his sight was regained, the first thing Edwin saw was Red Hood standing right over him.

"Very graceful there, Ed"

Red Hood had the butt of the rifle smack dab on Alva's skull as he began to blubber and beg "Pleeaasse-heh-heh-he".

Right behind him, Arsenal and Talon swooped down in the tunnel and stood off a distance watching this spectacle take place.

"Let's jus get this over with" Talon shrieked from a far, waiting like a bird of prey to come in for the kill. Red Hood gave her a silent nod and turned back to the whimpering executive at his feet.

"Alva, Alva... would you just..._ sigh_... fine." Red Hood calmly tried to explain to no avail. He then emotionlessly lifted the gun up and shot Alva in his foot. He gripped it with pain as he huddled over on the ground.

"If I wanted to kill you, you've have dead fourteen blocks ago." he calmly said as he leaned in to the businessman.

"I can vouch for that" Arsenal chimed in while showing off his cybernetic arm.

"WHY!? WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS... WHAT... WHAT DID I EVER DO TO YOU?!" Alva burst out sobbing as he reeled from the gunshot, and from being hunted like an animal.

Red Hood's eyes looked right down at him, cold and full of rage as memories passed before his eyes.

_"A... OR B?" a sinister voice asked with a chuckle._

WHACK

WHACK

"FOREHAND...

_**BACKHAND**__"  
_  
_WHACK_

WHACK

ONE HIT AFTER ANOTHER FROM A CROWBAR, RELENTLESSLY AND RUTHLESSLY...

_  
THEN A MASSIVE EXPLOSION, SEERING AND BURNING_

The pain all came pouring back to Red Hood, all the brutal memories... or lack of memories. A darkness. He blamed Edwin Alva for it, he blamed the Light and all it's members for it.

"You're as guilty as the rest of your little friends... and don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about! Specs and Trapper... they lead me right to you this time, before I killed them."

Alva instantly remembered those names, a pair of hired mercenaries he use to employ to do jobs for himself and the Light.

"Yeeah, they were hard nuts to crack, I'll admit" he knelt down to get right in Alva's face "Not much of either them was left by the time I pried what I needed. But what matters is... I got ALL of your dirty little secrets now, Alva. And this town is full of people that would be _dying_ to find out..."

Edwin shook his head in a nervous panic, realizing he was better off dead at the moment. "I've taken care of most of the middle men in your little club..." Red Hood explained as he cracked his knuckles, "now there will be a reckoning for you and everyone else in the highest echelons of the Light. **YOU'RE ALL GOING TO KNOW THE **_**MEANING **_**OF PAIN**"

Red Hood then got and turned and to Roy, "Load him up". Arsenal tipped his hat and walking over, dragging Edwin up to his feet while binding his hands with a plastic grip behind his back. He dragged him along with a limp foot still bleeding.

"As for you darling", Red Hood then said to Talon as they began to hustle out of the tunnel, "I think it's time to send the word. The scum of Dakota are about to have a little pow-wow... they just don't know it yet."

"Sure thing" she provakativly said with a smile to the crazed vigilante, while gliding her fingers along Red Hood's chest. As she strolled along in front of him, the very disturbing thoughts in swirling around in his head of revenge and carnage... momentarily shifted to something a little more fun.

But there was a time and place, as Red Hood returned to the matter at hand. He strolled over clanking his heavy boots as they echoed in the tunnel passage, amidst car alarms, burning vehicles and nearby sirens from approaching police. He hung his assault rifle over his back by a strap and kneeled down under the car, looking the bodyguard dead in the eyes as he dragged him by his arms.

"You... didn't... think... I forgot about you" Red Hood said with annoyance in his voice as he stammered and dragged the heavy-set guard out. He didn't put up a fight as Red Hood stood him to his feet against a blue cadillac.

"Assassins, mercenaries, ninjas, even you street thugs in suits... all of them managed to show a ounce of loyalty before I killed them. And then their bosses. But then... there's _you_."

Red Hood put his arm on the bodyguard's throat as he put him in a chokehold, while pulling a knife out with his other hand.

"They were scum but they were loyal scum, they deserved the quick deaths I offered. For you however..."

A quick few jabs from his blade and an almost silent slash, gutted in the stomach and cut all along the arm. "You're gonna bleed out like a pig..."

Red Hood then said as he pulled out a gadget and attached it to the thug's back, as nearly keeled over. The already cut-up bodyguard's face looked up to Red Hood as he strolled along on his merry way. He pressed a button and a line launcher attached to a pipe along the tunnel's ceiling. The thug was lifted up and hung by his feet from a cable, dangling and dying. _"Slowly"_ Red Hood menacingly added as he viewed his handiwork.

As Talon flew off into the night, and Arsenal threw Edwin into the back of a hummer, Red Hood just walked on down the street and wiped the blood of his knife, while his latest kill was given a treatment that even a hunted animal deserves less.

Red Hood was just going started.

A pair of eyes woke up in darkness, gasping and screaming. The figure coughed up blood while reeling what felt like the very first breaths of ever in his life. He struggled to move, but he was surrounded... surrounded on all sides by walls. Lined with cotton or some kind of fabric. He kicked and whaled every which way, no room to move. The figure began to realize he was in a box... a box meant only for the dead. He screamed and yelled for help... for anyone to hear him.

He clawed and clawed at the coffin for what felt like an eternity, as he began to paniced, in a crazed dash to get out. His fingers were raw and bloody by the time he broke through the hard cider coffin he found himself trapped in, only to be faced with a greater hassle... dirt and soil. It caved in on him as the figure choked on roots and the ground above him. With gasps of breath he dug and dug with what was left of his fingers, with barely an ounce of strength left in his body. Just then he reached around and found something that would make the job go faster... a very sharp knife.

Hours upon hours passed, through six feet of hard soil. Finally like a demon he screamed in agony as he burst through at long last, to the surface. He clawed and climbed his way out, scrambling for air as he feel to his knees. He sighed and laughed with madness in his voice, and a rage in his eyes. A clap of thunder rolled but his face was undiscernable during the flash of lightning. Amongst other cuts and bruises on his face, scars of some incident he couldn't recollect covered most of his body.

The figure looked around to find himself in a foreboding cemetary. Nothing was familiar, amongst the mausolems, tombstones, and general old-world feeling of this graveyard. The storm was coming as it started to pour down on top of him. It washed away the blood on his fingers, dripping down off his face and lips. He breathed in a long sigh as he stood on his feet. He clentched his teeth as he shambled to move, grasping at the grave before him for weight to stand upon. He climbed back off it and to his feet again... looking down at the stone for some shread of information. Of identity.

All it read was "In absentia, lucis tenebrae"

He understood Latin... but the figure knew not why. While stroking his fingers through his hair, not tinted with a small thread of grey he felt the rain coming ever harder down on him. He clutched the knife in his right hand so much harder then.

UNKNOWN  
OCTOBER 31st, 2014  
THREE YEARS AGO  
3:16 am

The rain on his chest felt like a baptism. Whoever he was... he was born again.

_**And he was pissed.**_

San Francisco  
April 18th, 2017  
6:18pm PST

The scene was a bloody mess when the Major Crimes Unit had arrived about an hour ago. The back of an fish cannery, turned to a makeshift torture room for the two victims found on the scene. Crime scene analysts were going over the entire building tooth and nail, but weren't have any more luck than Starfire, who found the mess.

Captain Arthur Hall, a grey haired african-american, was standing over the bodies as they were being loaded up outside to the morgue. Next to him was Star, the alien warrior-princess of Tamaran. She was following up a lead when she arrived at the nightmarish crime scene. The captain and the alien (who had a foot taller on him) stood by in awkward comtemplation, trying to come up with something to say while waiting for the Justice League contact Starfire had called for.

"Soooo..." Hall began, turning to Star who just readied for some question regarding her skin, her being an alien or something.

"This must be like nothing to you, I mean out _there_..." Hall said while pointing upwards to the stars beginning to peak out with the setting sun on the coast, "You must have seen a lot worse".

"It.. is true." Starfire replied hesitantly, but affirmed. No one asked her this line of inquiry before. "The brutalities of war I have witnessed in several systems. But that which was committed here... it was raw, senseless. Not committed in the heat of battle..."

Hall was a little disconcerted that this scene managed to rattle the warrior's cage as well as it shook him. "Sending a message to someone?"

"No. It was calculated but also sloppy. The best I can describe what transpired... was pure rage. Like a savage Gerignak"

Hall let that sink in, only to turn back and give her a look with a raised eyebrow.

"Errr... apologies" Starfire then mimed the image, "big purple jackal... BIG teeth." Starfire's impersonations were drawing a few more looks from officers on the scene.

"Perhaps we should discuss this inside until the Nightwing arrives" Hall shrugged and complied, leading Starfire inside while photos were being taken for any fesable evidence.

"What was your lead anyway, the one that lead you here?" Hall asked with some intrigue, "League business?"

"My own as it happened. I was to transport in a nearby..." Starfire turned in all directions to see if anyone was listening, then in a hushed tone finished with "Zeta beam tube".

"Riiiight, that Trek stuff you heroes use. What about it?"

"There were irregularities in the system, as if someone had hacked it and used it recently. Which to my understanding was impossible to do. I am not exactly a tech person or a... _deckard-tove_, but I did what I could to narrow down the virus to this vicinity... where I came upon... well"

Starfire glanced at the hooks and machinery all around the inside of the cannery. All stained with anything but fish.

"Well we're lucky I guess you found this mess when you did. Given the stench of this place... could have masked the scene for a full week before we found these guys.."

"Just how long have they been there?" a voice said from behind Hall, startling him. Starfire let out a slight pip, but the warrior wasn't as easily nerve-wracked as the captain. Nightwing stepped out from behind some crates. "We're gonna need a moment, gentlemen" he said in a stern voice as he basically told the lab technicans to clear out for the moment. They nodded and did so without question.

"Ooooh, have pity on an old man's heart!" Hall said as he addressed Nightwing.

"Sorry, I... couldn't resist." Batman would have been proud of that entrance, as Nightwing began activating his holographic scanner on his wrist.

"You masks and your theatricality" Hall quipped.

"I am most relieved you are now here to sort some of this out" Starfire added.

"Might not be a _detective_, but you did good tracking this down, Star." She faintly smiled when Nightwing turned his attention back to Hall while going over the outline of the bodies with his computer scanner.

"What do we got so far, Captain?"

"Well... _Starfire_ found the lot of them. Real Texas Chainsaw stuff went on up in here." Hall wasn't kidding, as Nightwing's scanners picked up blood splatter that recreated trajectory. The two victims were here... and there... all over the scene.

"Figure they've been dead for two days before she found 'em."

Nightwing's scanner picked up something in a barrel, something scorched. He pulled out a handful of ashes.

"Burned their clothes, IDs, anything to trace back to them. Giving our perp enough time before the fingerprints matched..."

"It would be doubtful that the fingerprints would reveal anything" Starfire interrupted Nightwing, "For when I found what was left of them... they had no hands."

A grisly thought as Nightwing pictured the mess. "Probably chopped 'em and ditched them in the ocean" Hall elaborated.

"Between this and hacking the zeta beam..." Nightwing scratched his head while trying to run down any leads... when suddenly. Something caught his attention on a buzzsaw blade, slightly used.

"I was going to say this guy was good... but he missed ONE fingerprint. Probably from throwing one of our vics around."

Starfire and Captain Hall followed Nightwing over as his holographic computer scanned up the print instantaeously. It was their only lead at the moment. It was still going to take a while to analyze that one print through the entire criminal databases.

"How can you be certain that this does not belong to the man responsible?" Starfire inquisitivly asked.

"Because if can manipulate Zeta tech, then he won't have left his own prints lying around... he's usually good at wiping all traces of himself after an assassination."

"Assassination, wait what?!" Hall asked, now confused. He believed these were civilians of some grisly and random murder.

"All of his previous targets have been agents of the Light, Captain. All they got were quick gunshots to the head. Meaning these guys..." just giving a hand gesture to the dried blood over the machinery all over the cannery,

"They had to be pretty damn high up the pole." Hall began to put to together with a nod of disbelief. "If what your saying is true." What was he stepping into?

"Wait a tanx, targets..." Starfire also put together, "I... I remember now the pattern. From the briefings. This is, the one called Redfoot?"

**"**That's **Red. Hood." **Nightwing corrected the alien princess with a sigh. It was about to get really complicated.

More than Nightwing and Starfire realized. His scanner was interrupted by a League message, while Star got an urgent message simultaneously on her comm link. From Static in Dakota City.

Starfire saw the readout, while Hall peeked over at the urgent message from the League. Nightwing looked up in shock at the brutal details of the attack that just took place. All Star could muster in the earth dilect she'd picked up was "Oh, shi-"

Dakota City  
April 19th, 2017  
2:23am CST

In a darkened and vacant apartment where Red Hood and his outlaws had set up shop, the murderous vigilante was in the bathroom with only his thoughts. Dimmly lit, the top of his face was covered in shadow as he shaved with the knife he had used earlier that evening.

The edge was sharp, and the shave close and clean. With one last swipe he got the remainder of his stubble, then he turned on the dirty faucet water to wipe his knife off. As he did he started into the mirror, memories flooding his mind once again. It was a good knife. Three years ago, he used it to carve his way out of the grave amongst other things.

_RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH, he screamed in an animalistic scream as he drove the knife in the police officer when he tried to detain him. Cops began to swarm on him three to four to try and hold him back, as he cut and slashed at them like a wild animal. They managed to get the knife out of his hand, but when they had him in a grip to put the cuffs on... he nawed into one officer's throat and bit him like a bloodthirsty wolf.  
_  
_With the grip loosened he punched out one policeman, kicking and whaling at the others. One of the european-tounged officers was thrown into the windshield of the car, whilst the rage-fueled young man picked up his knife and threw it like a throwing star into another cop. With a swift Van Damme kick the knife was embedded deeper in with a killing stroke. He then did a somersault over the officer and pulled the knife clean out as he then made his dash for escape. He picked up speed running through the street, ducking in and between the cars in traffic. The figure managed to jump in mid air to dodge one that was about to run right into him. He crashed down into another moving car's roof denting it, as he then fumbled onto the other side of the street. The cops began to open fire as more arrived._

_The figure escaped down the crowded back alleys, the slums of some European nation he hold no knowledge of coming to. He climbed a chainlink fence without effort, standing atop it as he then hurtled in a leap to a fire-escape. Climbing then quickly with the police on his trail, he made it to the roof and began leaping from building to building. It was then they he managed to climb in parkour fashion a giant cathderal, the most prominant one in Belgrade, Serbia (unbeknownst to him). _

_Upon the spire he saw the entire cityscape as another crackle of lightning and thunder ripped the sky, the wind picking up with the rain in his face. But another flash of light blinded him, a police helicopter. Gunners opened fire on him as he ducked in and around the architecture of the cathderal. It was then in a desperate effort, with the knife now clentched tighetly between his teeth, the figure jumped for the nearest building amidst gunfire. He missed. And fell several stories into a powerline that blistered with electricty from the impact. Collapsed and soaked with powerlines crackling all around him on the pavement, the figure was short of breath and could hear the police coming for him. He wasn't going to be locked up again._

_But then out of nowhere, a van grinded to a halt in front of him. Men in black garb and red-eyed night vision googles leaped out and cleared the debris off him as they circled around him. As the figure was losing conciousness and the police sirens seemed to be growing louder, a woman stepped before him and knelt down to inspect him._

_Then flashes of green, amidst burning pain and more gunfire... then back to the most haunting memory in Red Hood's mind... THE BLISTERING STRIKES OF THAT CROWBAR_

"GAAAAAH!" Red Hood screamed as he punched the mirror, shattering it with his fist. He breathed deeply, to remove the pain that always comes from his memories. He tossed aside the broken glass then stepped slowly out of the bathroom in a daze.

"Red... are you, ahhh..." the oranged-featherd metahuman rushed in from the sound of shattering glass. With a double take she walked in on Red Hood as he was, well, in the buff.

"Yeah. I'm good."

"I'll say" Talon replied back playfully.

"Eyes up here, darling" Red taunted back as he threw on pants. Before he could put his face on, Talon grabbed it off the table.

"Arsenal back yet?"

"No. What's your hurry? We still got... a little time, babe" she said in her thick accent while carressing Red Hood's helmet.

"Tallie, I swear. Don't joke around with..."

"Yah, yah. Fine" She dejectedly said as she tossed it back to him, as he then latched the red helmet back over his face. With a sigh of almost relief he opened his cold dead eyes as he turned to face Talon with his_ real _face.

"Followed my directions to the letter, went through the channels to wrangle them up?"

"_Deviate from them and I'm fired_... Just like always, Red. I did what you said"  
"Heh-heh-heh... that's my girl." Red Hood threw on his jacket, lying on the table next to a whole plethora of guns and weaponry.

"These aren't just lieutenants and dealers to rip off and manipulate, these are da big bosses Red. What if we can't rope them in."

"Then tonight is going to be very short and very tiresome..."

"And NOT in dah fun way" Talon laughed as she loaded up a pistol with an ammo clip and handed it to Red Hood with but a finger. He swiped it from her and looked down the scope with a chuckle of his own. The murdering vigilante gig did have its, pleasurable advantages.

Gotham City  
April 19th, 2017  
1:30am EST

"What's our status?" Batman asked sitting in front of the Bat-cave computer system.

"Not a trace of him, just as we feared" Tim Drake was on the other end, having answered Static's alert with a few other team members to investigate the scene of Red Hood's attack. "Just like in other instances of Red Hood's activities, viruses wiped any cameras that could have caught a glimpse of him."

"His tech is good, but not infallable as Starfire managed to discover at the scene in San Francisco" Batman wasn't going to show it, but the idea of how quickly this Red Hood was moving. Unnerving that he could manipulate so many systems, even League systems.

"We aren't totally in the dark, the cameras wiped any trace of Red Hood... not his partners in crime"

Tim pulled up an image captured from a security cam outside an apartment complex in the Dakota Slums. It managed to catch a confirmed visual of Roy Harper.

"Arsenal" Batman said in an almost deep growl of anger. How far the hero had fallen.

"Guess the rumors were true, unfortunatley." Tim said with some disbelief.

"The police and you need to follow this up. Finding Arsenal will lead us to Red Hood. We need to know why he has this sudden interest in the gang conflicts of Dakota."

Robin gave his trainer a nod of agreement, only to be interrupted by Static. "No offense, but I'll find out what this psycho wants. He tears up my town and sho-"

"Static. We need everyone level-headed for this operation." Batman had to bring the young hero down a notch, he could see he was furious and angry. "I understand your personal stake in this, Virgil. With Officer Jessup..."

"She's... she's my dad's girlfriend yeah. But I still consider her family, yo. And NOBODY messes with my family and gets away with it"

"Just keep it together and follow League instructions. We need to find Arsenal, get anything we can out of him to lead us to Red Hood. This ends tonight. Batman out."

The communication vid was then shut off with a flick of a button from Batman. He sat back in his chair, with only his thoughts and the cries of the bats around him to listen to. Red Hood's activites had only grown more violent since he attacked Artemis and her family. But this was a step up from murdering Light agents, he was abducting powerful executives off the street, torturing and maiming people... turning Dakota into a warzone with a motley crew of criminals. He was amassing power now, amassing muscle for something that needed more than a pistol to complete. Troubling to say the least.

More troubling than how he possible could get access to the Zeta beams. Only Vandal Savage managed that, and it was only through the mindcontrolled Red Arrow's aide. As Batman continued to try and understand the motives, the reason for this bloodthirsty campaign, he took his mask off and sat back in his chair. While rubbing his forehead, a beeper turned his attention back to the computer. Nightwing's scan from the crime scene in San Francisco had completed.

As he partially suspected, the two bodies were identified as known criminals and agents of the Light. The finger print found let the computer to single out a pair of techno mercenaries that called themselves... Batman jolted up out of his chair after reading the names. **SPECS** and **TRAPPER.  
**  
"No" he silently said to himself. "It's... it's impossible."

Batman stumbled over to a display case near the entrance to the cave as this information brought back many memories. While also causing him to make a startling revelation based on this and everything they learned so far about Red Hood. It would also explain the Edwin Alva connection, the interest in the metahumans.

It can't be him. It just can't be.

Batman peered into the display, which was filled with old uniforms and equipment. His first bat-suit (purple gloves and all), Dick Grayson's original Robin costume. And then... there was Jason Todd's mask and everything.

His greatest mistake staring right back at him as a constant reminder. But if what he was processesing was true... this was alot worse than anyone feared.

"Jason... it can't..."

"It can, and it most unfortunatly is. Detective."

Batman turned sharply behind him, as a figure approached him from out of the shadows. Batman angrily threw his cowl back on and yelled "HOW DID YOU GET IN HERE!?"

Ra's al Ghul stepped forth with his cape flowing, and an arrogant smile on his face. "Please. I've trained better men than you in the ways of the shadow. I could have come here and finished you off anytime I saw fit... but it is in bad taste to kill one's enemy in his home."

"A sentiment most of the Light wouldn't share if they knew my whereabouts like you!"

"True."

"What do you know about the Red Hood?"

"He was a mistake, among others. I tried to repay a debt I believed owed to you, a sentiment my associates also did not share. Instead I brought a blight upon all our houses."

Batman lunged at the now grey-haired and less-youthful Ra's. Grabbing his throat, while the Demon's Head went for a sword in a hilt by his hip.

"WHAT DID YOU DO, RA'S?!"

Dakota City  
April 19th, 2017  
3:01am CST

"What do you mean, this ain't your meeting?!" a purple haired female gangster cried aloud, amongst a gathering of metahuman thugs and criminals. The lot of them were summoned to the Paris Island warehouse for a sit-down everyone assumed the other one had called.

"Do I look like the type to have rational conversations, Puff!?" a towering gangster in dreadlocks snapped back.

"Has to be you, only one with the muscle to manage a sit down with all of us!" a wannabe gangster and drug peddler in glasses added in.

"Was anybody talkin to you, Gear?!" a Jamacian-accented thug with massive feet yelled back, as the meeting devolved into name calling and contempt. As all this went on, with bickering between the various superpowered gangsters went on, one remained african teen remained silent in his seat. With a smile on his face as all this went.

"Screw this" the tall thug barked, as his fists began to glow with blue embers and flame. "You idiots figure out who's deciding what... I'm..."

"GONNA SIT DOWN... AND SHUT UP." a voice from on high declared, drawing the Bang Babies attention.

"Who da hell is this?!" the bigfooted one called Kangore yelled out. The figure was in the shadows mostly, from the rafters. But they could make out an emblem on his chest, a red bat.

"Crud, it's the BAT!" the yellow-haired Gear said, while reading a strange device strapped to his back.

But to everyone's shock, except the quiet thug still remaining in his seat (whilst everyone armed themselves or powered up), the figure stepped forth to reveal a red helmet and a shotgun in his hand.

"The name is Red Hood. And you've all been invitied on MY behalf."

"Dah hell is this fruitcake?" Gear said aloud first, what everyone else was thinking

"Don't know. But there's easier ways to die, freakshow!" Puff hollered up to the masked man as her hands began to emit a purple smoke, acidic to the touch except her.

"Your one to talk" a harsh voice said overhead, followed by an earpiercing shriek. Talon swooped down and lashed at Puff with a swipe of her razor sharp err... talons. She flew up and around, perched now on a rafter behind them. Armed with two semi-automatics. At this point the silent gangster stood up and laughed.

"Well, well, well... so you shacking up with this guy now, is that it? Too high and mighty for the man that got you on your feet after ya fell outta the nest?! Disappointing."

"He's more man dan jo are, Ebon." Talon replied back, as the gangster began to envolpe into blackness. His anger brought forth the shadows, engulfed him like a suit of armor, until only his eyes struck out from the darkness of his form.

"Well, this is awkward. Really it is. Should have told me, Tallie, that one of these scumbags was your old paramour." Red Hood leaned on the railing of the rafters, "No matter. Back to the ahem, matter at hand..."

Red Hood let out a blast of his shotgun onto the table, causing the leaders to duck for cover, while the towering Holocaust let out a barrage of flames. Red Hood dodged, while Talon opened fire from her end in mid-air.

Before more attacks could be thrown, Red Hood leaped down off the platform and landed feet first, without even batting an eye.

"CHILL! That was called an _attention-grabber_. To get you off your asses so you can hear what I HAVE TO SAY!"

Kangore hopped off the ground and smashed right in front of Red Hood with the impact.

"Better start talkin fast, cause those guns ain't gonna stop ALL of us, mate!"

Just then a red laser synched up to Kangore's hand, scrolling right up his body until it was dead-center in his head. Other laser sights began to target the bang baby leaders. They looked up to see the one called Arsenal giving them a wave of his cap to signal hello.

Red Hood then tapped Kangore in the chest with a finger "Super-powers or not, pretty sure most of you ain't gonna walk away from a bullet to the brain."

"So shut it, Big foot. Let him talk" Talon landed on top of the bullet ridden table.

"Right. Listen up you dirtbags. From this moment on... you work for me!"

After a few seconds, the leaders let out a burst of laughter.

"You a regular funnyboy! I mean... think you the Joker, and this some kind of joke!?" That was the worst thing Gear could have said. Red Hood gave him a silent death glare. Then he slapped him. Slapped him like b*tch.

"They'll let anybody become drug lords, I swear..." Red Hood mumbled to himself, while Gear was about to pull on the vigilante with some high-tech gizmo in his backpack.

"Let this fool have his say!" Ebon then strangely said to back Gear off, even whiffing shadows on him to force him in his seat. "A'right... so why should we be workin for you?"

"Because I can give you the resources that would make all of you, all of Dakota's most powerful Bang Baby masterminds... into crime lords. Weapons, muscle, all the money in the world. Enough to ditch slinging drugs on the corners, fighting over territory. All this... for 20% of your take."

"What's to stop us from just doing that ourselves? And killing you?" Puff inquisitively asked.

"I hold the golden goose." Red Hood tapped a button and activated a TV screen nearby. The metahumans turned to see a grey-haired man tied up with tape on his mouth and a bloody broken nose.

"That there's Alva. The one the guy clipped off the street" Holocaust recognized the businessman, was only the most powerful legitimate crook in the city. "Your doing?"

"You know it" Talon chirped in.

"So what's so special about that old geezer?" Ebon asked Red Hood. He replied back, "He's the one responsible for the BIG BANG"

That comment caught all of their attentions, as well as a smile from Talon... and a noticeable yelp from over the TV from Edwin.

"You a lying fool!" Ebon viciously replied back, his shadows beginning to engulf the room.

"Wastin our time, everybody know it was them big bosses with da Light" Kangore said adamently.

"Sure... but someone in the Light had to pull it off. THAT was Alva" Red Hood threw a file and other papers on the table for all to share and paruse. "His company was given over research from a bunch of aliens, called Kroloteans. They studied the metagene, and the Light wanted to access it. Thanks to him and his goons, they developed the first batch of agents that could harness and activate metagenes. When it didn't work as well as hoped, they ditched the stuff and moved on to the REACH. They managed to do a better job than the last aliens. That compound however, stayed in a vault while Alva's boys continued to experiment on it. When it reached a breakthrough, it was gonna be shipped off to LexCorp... unfortunatly you all decided to smash up the place and get the cops involved. One thing lead to another and... BOOOOSH"

The sound effect was necessary, but it now began to sink in to the bang babies. The executive helped create the gas that gave them powers... the same gas that also killed most of their friends, caused a epidemic in Dakota and got all the police on their backs. So they were more angry at the guy that ecstatic about getting metahuman abilities.

"So for handing him over, you want us to just give over 20 percent?!" Holocaust asked with crossed arms.

"No. For 20 percent I hand his assets over. Offshore accounts, equity and stock options... we're talking billions."

That estimation from Red Hood got all of their minds racing.

"Now that's what I'm talking about Mr. Hood. Ha ha ha..." Ebon was now intrigued by this proposition.

"I throw in Alva as a freebie, a regular punching bag to do with what you want. Mind you if he's dead... then the funds get frozen before you can divy it up amongst yourselves."

Even the sulking Gear found this deal to be hitting the right notes. "20 percent sounds too good to be true for all of that."

"The percent of your profits, as well as a quid pro quo."

"Huh?" Kangore had to ask.

"He be scratching our backs, so we scratch his." Puff explained with a roll of the eyes. "You shouldn't have dropped outta school, Kangie-Boo"

"Puff is quite right. The percent of your revs is debatable... what I really want is your beck and call for errands every now and then. The fact that I movin on up you drug dealing scum away from children and street corners is a well-earned bonus. On the subject of errands, however... the first one... just happens to need to be done today. I can't do it by myself, even with Arsenal and Talon. I need an army of god damn bang babies."

"An army huh? With a king's ransom to pay for it." Holocaust said finally understanding Red Hood's ambitions.

"Yep. Think of the opportunities I can open for you scumbags, if you do what I say and ditch your drug dens for the big leagues!"

The leaders contemplated it for a moment, as Arsenal levied his guns upon them, everyone seemed relaxed and agreeable to Red Hood's enterprising proposal.

"What exactly you trying to lay siege to with an army, Mr. Hood? Fort Knox or someth..."

"No... nothing that small. Just something a little more close to home, something to send a message."

"What message?" Puff raised an eye.

_"Justice..."_

Washington, DC

Hall of Justice  
April 19th, 2017

5:16am EST

The original team members, plus Starfire, were all gathered together for a high priority meeting in the Hall of Justice. Nightwing, Flash, Kaldur, Superboy, Miss Martian, Artemis, and Barbara (formerly Batgirl). All summouned by Batman without much understanding as to what was going on.

"I am as in the dark about what has happened as we all are" Kaldur explained to the group.

"That's refreshing, Kal." Artemis non-chalantly said.

"Must be important to get all the originals together in the same roo. Did he tell you anything?" Superboy asked Nightwing as they all entered the main area of the Hall.

"Told me it was about the Red Hood case. A link to some mission we all were apart of way back when" Nightwing was troubled, he wasn't usually left this much in the dark about operations. Bats was his partner, at least he thought.

"I did detect something before I left" Barbara told Nightwing and the group, "on a hunch from Starfire. That was a real suprise"

Starfire angrily snorted at that comment, while Barbera continued by saying "I followed that virus, the one used by the Hood. And I think I picked up a giant spike in Dakota. Alot of activity in the zeta beams, more than his usual MO of hacking into them. But I couldn't get a lock on where to exactly."

"Great, is he beaming his friends for kicks?" Miss Martian asked half seriously.

"Whatever he's doing, I want a piece of this creep." Flash was pretty angry about the subject of Red Hood, after finding out he murdered Artemis' father (not that Sportsmaster would be missed) and tried to kill the rest of her family.

"Guys that mess with my family don't last long. And I KNOW..." Flash stopped Artemis before she could come up with a smart remark, "that they're aren't technically my family until we I make you an honest woman, but still counts...OW"

Artemis punched him in the shoulder playfully, then took his hand in a loving grip for the thought.

"Family is to be honored, even on my world. The cost is high for ANYONE that cowardly strikes the loved ones instead of the warrior himself! Herself. You know what I infer." Star spoke like a true warrior, sort of, but everyone nodded in agreement. Legal or not, family is family and no one gets away with as much as Red Hood as pulled against them and this _family_ of theirs.

"We will apprehend this Red Hood" Kaldur reiterated.

"I'm afraid when a mad dog is on the loose, boy..."

Everyone turned in shock at the sound of that voice they all recognized.

"The only option is to put it down" Ra's al Ghul.

"YOU." Artemis drew her bow, while Nightwing got the birdarangs ready. The others powered up and drew on Ra's upon sight.

"You guys really need to tighten up security around here!" Flash yelled as he put on his goggles and pummel-drived Ra's at full speed. "Getting to be anyone can just wander..."

Ra's wasn't knocked off his guard as easily. He threw quick jabs at Flash in the stomach that smacked the wind right out of him. Before he could draw his own sword, Kaldur let out a barrage of water from his conductors in the form of serpents. As they circled the immortal, Batman stepped forward and in the loudest tone they've ever heard ordered "STAND. DOWN."

Everyone turned to Bats in confusion, as Ra's put his sword away and Flash got to his feet.

"What the hell is going on!?"

"Something tells me we're about to have some LIGHT shed on this Red Hood fellow we've been hunting." Nightwing suppositioned, "I figured you knew more than you let on, Ra's"

"I'm putting aside our grievances for the moment to put an end to this rampage. Before things get worse."

"If its members of the Light this psycho wants" Superboy declared as his anger began to build up, "I say we stick you out as bait for..."

"ENOUGH, Superboy." Batman wasn't having any of this."I don't like this anymore than any of you, but we need his help in this matter."

"Why? I think we deserve to know what's going on" Artemis then said to Batman bluntly,

"Must be serious if we're actually considering letting Ra's al Ghul help us capture whatever rogue agent of the Light he probably trained himself." Miss Martian was quick to point out.

"I merely awakened his mind, the training was yours." Ra's was quick to reply.

"Pardon?" Starfire was very much lost on the wording, as well as out of the loop on most of this history.

"I started this calamity of events by _actually_ trying to help you. Now I feel I must provide whatever I can to end this threat upon all of us... to help stop Jason."

"What... what did you just say?" Nightwing asked, not understanding that last comment.

"Ba-Batman?" Barbara then apprehensivly asked, turning to her mentor as her eyes grew wide, whiles looks of confusion crossed hers, Starfire's and everyone elses faces in the meeting room. There was no easy way to say this for Batman, who was still trying to process the revelation of their target as well.

So he just came out and said it.

**"Jason Todd is alive... and he's the Red Hood"**

Gotham City  
April 19th, 2017

5:18am EST

Morning was soon approaching, but the night sky still lingered in its usual blood-red haze over Gotham. But in a secluded region to the north, with more trees and a scenic parkway than can be found in the steel and glass of the city, lied a foreboding building.

At the towering gates of building so cut off and far away from the city, something was approaching. Two guards on the other side in the security booth hopped out to peer between the bars. They couldn't tell at first what it was, but it was mobing fast. One guard ran back in and grabbed an automatic rifle. By the time he did, a mass of shadows rammed into the gates like a battering ram. They dissapatted and phased through like a whiff of smoke, but not before knocking the one guard off his feet and into the ground unconcious. The other guard, now armed, took sight and opened fire through the bars.

To his misfortune, however, a hand reached in through the bars and slammed his face into them several and brutal times. Before gutting him like a fish with a knife and tossing him aside. Red Hood revealed himself from the dissapating cloud of black shadows, as did Ebon.

"You wanna do the honors?" Red Hood turned to ask Ebon. The black and purple man, clouded by the same dark shadows he can summon, gave a whistle. Pointing at the gate, two giant bang babies also stepped out from the shadows. One was 9ft tall and purple skinned like rhino-hide, the other was glowing bright white like a mass of living energy. Onyx and D-Struct, respectivly.

The two grabbed the gates with their bare hands, and ripped it apart by force and by D-Struct's kinetic energy. They went flying in both directions, slamming into trees.

Everyone was awake now, as the security sirens and floodlights quickly turned on. When the lights hit Red Hood and friends outside the main gates, they revealed who else was enveloped in the darkness. Talon, Arsenal, the other gang leaders, and what looked like four dozen bang babies (as well as 15 non-powered gangsters with weaponry stolen by Red Hood in Bludhaven), all ready for action.

"Let's make some noise" Red Hood then bellowed for his army to hear, while pulling out duel pistols in each hand, and as Talon took flight. The bang babies charged into the attack... as they pushed up the hill to storm ARKHAM ASYLUM.

Washington DC  
Hall of Justice  
April 19th, 2017  
5:18 am

"How... is that... I was there" Barbara was as baffled by this dark revelation as everyone else in the room was. Could hear a pin drop with the tension in the Hall of Justice.

"I was right there with you and Dick, I SAW HIM DIE!" she was struggling to remain sitting in that chair, to hold back to the tears why she challenged Batman about this turn of events.

"I am most sorry to ask this now" Starfire was forced to step forward between the older Team and Ra's, as fists were able to come to blows over his presence, "But this is referring to the past Robin? The one that died in battle?"

"Yeah. His name was Jason" Nightwing turned to tell Starfire, his head sullied and slunk in remorse of the past.

"He did not die in battle, though." Kaldur said with a sharp vehemence in his voice, "Three years ago he was murdered by the Joker... another of his pranks. All while we believed Specs and Trapper were stealing chemicals for him, and that Jason rushed in without back-up... only to fall in the clutches of their boss."

"He served an adequate ruse for us before with the Injustice League" Ra's explained with disgust, "So with hesitation we used the Joker again. Despite my disapproval. After that night... it was promised we would never employ that madman again."

"Gee, thanks for that. It really makes up for it now doesn't it." Flash was quick to congratulate Ra's on his one good deed in a few hundred years.

"It was a small concession. One that proves useless now that Jason is back."

"You expect us to believe that this vigilante who plagues your organizations is our friend?" Kaldur still questioned Ra's claim.

"How is Robin's resurrection so impossible to believe? Especially when here stands a boy you just as easily saw... perish" Ra's al Ghul pointed at Wally, to bring back the pain and memories of his death/return.

"How do we know, that this _Red Hood_ isn't some genomorph clone you want us to help dispose of?" Superboy was the first to go the clone route, but Ra's al Ghul shook his head.

"Believe me, I was adament in demanding Jason be cloned... for the Light's purposes" that last part didn't sound as genuine from Ra's. "They refused me the request. This is the flesh and blood Robin, the one you all know."

The assembled heroes couldn't even fathom what this meant. The young boy they took in, the one that took Dick's mantle of Robin for his crimefighting identity... was returned to them a murderer.

"This isn't the Jason we knew" Artemis said to Ra's, defending the former Robin. "He was good kid, a great crimefighter, more importantly he was our friend. THIS thing you want us to help you stop... is a monster!"

"Ra's is telling the truth" M'gann was forced to disparingly admit. Artemis turned to the martian, who with an equally somber look. "I've read his mind... I saw... and based on the facts who else but a former team member could manipulate our technology. Locate your family so easily? He's been to your house."

That last note hit a nerve in Artemis, as she clasped her hands in disbelief. She couldn't admit to herself that this was the same goofball she helped trained and hung out with.

"It's difficult to accept but..." Miss Martian was interrupted

"NO. No... h-he would have contacted us." Barbara then spun around in her chair nearly in tears. "He would have told us he was alive, he wouldn't do this! He just w..."

"Everyone. Just... stop." Batman somberly said, drawing their attention back to the matter at hand. "I wish to heaven that this was some ruse, some trap or mistake. But it isn't. Our only mistake was burying an empty coffin."

Nightwing and everyone else were aghast with open eyes.

"I dug up Jason's grave myself. He wasn't there. I was stupid and careless..." The melacholy in Batman's voice, almost grated like he spent hours in a rage, yelling at the heavens with nothing left in him emotionally now.

Superboy gritted his teeth and attempted to charge Ra's. Miss Martian and Kaldur held him back with all their might. "YOU DID THIS TO HIM, YOU KILLED HIM THEN TURNED HIM INTO SOME FRANKENSTEIN MONSTER! ARE YOU HAPPY!?" Superboy's feet grinded into the floor, nearly ripping them out as his friend and love tried to hold back his rage.

"The Lazarus pits, wasn't it?" Nightwing realized the immediate fact right in front of him. "You brought him back with the Pits you've been hoarding to keep yourself alive?"

All eyes, with souls crushed and rage-fueled hearts a beating, towards Ra's. Standing before them blankly but with some remorse for the first time.

"You must understand, I did not intend for Jason's death, nor did I ransack his grave for further insult to all of you. Every kill I've committed by my hands, or with the Assassins and the Light, has always been for some greater purpose. Jason's... his was a senseless and unnecessary murder."

Deep words for the man to admit to, for one so firm in his beliefs.

"For hiring the Joker and allowing him to run wild, I personally saw to Ocean Master's removal from the Light, then I recused myself from its activies for a time... in penance. But a month after Jason's death, my daughter and her agents found a young man with great agility and training wandering the streets of Belgrade. We spiritied him away... were I came to realize it was indeed the same young man who died at the Joker's hands."

"Now your saying you didn't have anything to do with bringing him back!?" Flash was quite sceptical.

"His return to the land of the living was just as shocking. I do not know how his body was removed, or revived. He had returned a mindless husk, a ravenous animal killing indescrimantly. Taking his return as a sign... a chance to amend, I brought him to the Lazarus pits to restore his mind. To try and mend him and bring back the Jason you knew. I only half-succeeded."

_Three years ago in flashback, a body wrapped in bandages is lifted out of a massive green pool of toxic-looking chemicals, overseen from afar by Ra's, Talia... and an unknown boy of Eight years in age and black hair._

_Minions of Ra's lift a metal cage up and out with chains and crain equipment, setting the container down on hard rock floor. A servant of Ra's known as Ubu opens the container as Ra's watches on. The door of the cage creeks open, as Ubu then checks the body inside for a pulse, some sign of life. Ubu holds his wrist, and catches something. He steps back as a few armed ninjas step forward. An instant later, Jason springs up out of the cage in a swift motion. He rips the bandages off his face and upper body. Ra's looks on in emotionless disbelief.  
_  
_The young jet-black haird boy draws his sword, but Talia holds him back._

_The Lazarus' effects should have momentarily driven him mad. And yet the boy sat upright breathly slowly, composed. With a heavy look upon his face and irises in his eyes now turned bright green like himself. Jason gave little to no emotion as he stared into Ra's eyes. It was not looking into darkness, was Ra's thought. This wasn't a boy or a man rejuvenated... this was a monster cruel and calculating now unleashed. _

"I kept him in the monastery for a few days to study him, to see if his memories were regained. In a fortnight he murdered most of my foot soldiers, then destroyed the pit and the monestary around it. I barely escaped with Talia and my... it does not matter."

Artemis noted Ra's stopping himself with a look that she then gave to Flash in a nod. He caught it too without a word.

"Upon his escape, he has been carving a path through mine and the Light's forces, blaming and targeting any and all who allied with them. Your father Sportsmaster" Aretmis was only half glad he was gone, "countless hired mercenaries, just recently he managed to kill my top lieutenant the Sensei. When he finally tracked down Specs and Trapper... the ones responsbile for leading him into Joker's trap... he must have changed his plans."

"This is too damn much" Nightwing mumbled to himself in disbelief.

"However he was revived, the pit must have warped him in some way" Miss Martian was quick to defend.

"The Lazarus does not corrupt entirely... it only unleashes your inner self."

That admission from Ra's brought back alot of heated moments for Batman. Jason was always stubborn and reckless, he always went a little to far in his methods of crimefighting... he especially took after Miss Martian during her days of brainwiping criminals. If this was Jason's real self finally unleashed, with Batman's training...

"This is going to be difficult. But it needs to be done. We need to bring Jason in now before he does anymore damage. This ends today." Batman was stern and resolute. The others had to begrudingly accept that is was their duty to stop their renegade teammember.

"Jason... and Roy" Nightwing was forced to hesitantly add. In all this revelation and hardship, they also need to account that Roy Harper was just as guilty and vengeful in this vendetta as Red Hood is.

"Well... what motive exactly could they get from abducting this Alva person?" Starfire deductivly asked.

"He got the information from the ones he killed in San Francisco. With information about the projects he ran for the Light... in Dakota." Kaldur came to same realization as everyone else.

"The Big Bang" Flash said.

"I can think of a few runamok drug lords who'd be pissed enough to want a piece of him." Artemis then added.

"He's no longer sated with killing hired guns. His bloodlust to be quenched needs now an army." Just as Ra's finished this thought, their current motive... a priortity message came in on the Justice League comms screen.

"This is Icon to the Justice League. There's been a series of bombings, hospitals and other major areas... we need back-up and rescue from any available heroes!"

The message was dire, and timed jsut according to the suspecting heroes as it sunk it. Bombs going off in the last known location of Red Hood and the worst Bang Baby gangs.

"A diversion?" Barbara asked.

"Most likely... Jason's made his move." Batman's fists clentched while Ra's stood beside him studying the screen and the carnage going on in Dakota City.

"Hopefully Beta squad can handle that while we track down Jason..." the new Beta team being Cyborg, Weylyn, Arrowette, Kid Flash, Blue Beetle, Tim Drake, Wonder Girl.

"The zeta beams!" Starfire was quick to point out, zooming over to Barbara.

"Right, I tried to get a specific lock on his location. Figure he's after someone especially up on his... oh no"

As Barbara was about to open her laptop, she came to the integral and shocking conclusion. Before she could share, another emergency message came in on the Justice League Computer.

"This is Lyle Bolton, chief of security at Ar..." an explosion occured right beside him, as the gruff man was firing back with an assuault rifle, guards racing past him. "We are under siege, I repeat, we are under siege by..." the message cut off.

"Arkham Asylum" Superboy recgonzied the interior.

"He's going to kill the Joker" all the young heroes said simultaneously, and disturbingly.

"Jason got a whole army of metahumans to help him." Nightwing then said.

"Everyone to the Zeta beams, I'll get all the back-up we can, Dakota will divert most of our forces." Batman ordered the team into action. As they all raced over to the tube system in the Hall.

"I'll stay on the systems and give you guys any back-up I can. Dick" Barbera delicatly grabbed Nightwing's hand before he could race off. "We'll sort this out however we can. Just bring Jason home."

Nightwing silently nodded, while Starfire watched from a distance. Nightwing caught up and rejoined them.

Barbera sat in her wheelchair and rolled over back to the computer, where still silently stood Ra's al Ghul. Sort of forgotten in all the hustle and confusion. She tried to awkwardly begin conversation as they two exchanged silent glance.

"Know much about computers?" Barbara asked Ra's as she began trying to override Arkham security systems.

"Only that by the time I learn to use them... they change it again" Ra's said with annoyance, the only humor she'd probably ever hear from the genoicdal maniac.

"Right" Barbara said in a huff, "Just don't think of going anywhere if you're really here to help. Do whatever it is you can about Jason".

"I've done enough already" Ra's fornlornly stated.

Back at the tubes, just as the first few members hopped on to jump to Gotham, Flash stepped off while giving Artemis a pecj on the cheek.

"Where are you.." Artemis tried to ask.

"No offense, but I could walk faster wihtout this... see ya in"

"DON'T" everyone said in harmonious unison Flash silently nodded, then disappeared in a red zoom.

Gotham City  
April 19th, 2017

5:25am EST

Within an instant, Flash had broken the sound barrier as he ran at breakneck speeds across country backroads and highways out of Washington and through Gotham. By the time he reached the wrekced gates of Arkham, he swiftly knocked out with superspeed punches a number of straggling Bang Babies engaged in fighting with guards in the courtyard. Gear went down before he knew what hit him, as many tall and colorfully mutated hybrids of Bang Babies were taken down by a red streak of energy.

By the time Flash was done, a majority of the rampaging metahumans were done for the count. A few guards bloody and bruised sighed with relief. One of them was Lyle Bolton.

"Figured you'd be the first on the scene, Flash."

"Where's the guy leading this? The Red Hood" Flash stated without time for pleasentries.

"He and the heavy hitters took over the high-security wing. My men tried to push in, and they got slaughted. Which left us defensless out here between them and the escaping inmates. It's all gone to hell."

"I'll stop Red Hood, more Leaguers are on the way. You and whatever men are still able... go hunt down the escapees. Can't have gotten far."

"Roger that. LET'S BRING THOSE SCUM BACK TO THEIR HOLES, GENTLEMEN!" the adament chief of security locked and loaded a shotgun, as the few armored guards still standing followed him out into the wilderness to hunt down the Arkham inmates. Police would be on the scene soon enough to help them. Flash got a bad vibe from Bolton, but no time for that.

In a flash, he zoomed into the wrecked hallways and cooridoors of Arkham, looking for Red Hood. He whizzed past Two-Face who was still sitting in his cell, lost the coin-toss apparently. A giant hole in the section of one wing caused by massive vines pointed to the break-out spot of Poison Ivy.

Flash barely managed to dodge the lumbering and scaled monstrosity known as Killer Croc.

"I can't see you, but I have your sce..." he growled, before being clocked in a powerful kick to the chin by Wally.

"Later, gator."

Flash zoomed in and around every darkned hallway and into every cell, cleaning up the armed bang babies and gangmembers patrolling and in control. He cleaned up and locked away inmates as he could, with Babera in the security systems watching him on the video feed. As Flash neared the maximum wing he stopped dead in his tracks in front of a diminuitive man with glasses, cradeling a dummy.

"Please... you have to get a doctor for Mr. Scarface!" Arnold Wesker begged Flash, grasping at his uniform in pity as he held the dying ventriloquist in his arms, sobbing. The dummy was apparently shot, with two holes showing right through the chipped block of wood for his body.

"Dummy... is that you? It's... _cough cough_... getting dark."

"Yeaaaaah... no." Flash zoomed off down the hall without a word as Wesker pleaded for him to stay.

"Nice... _cough_... work, blockhead!" Scarface bopped Wesker in his forehead with his own head. "_Owww_, see what you made me do... dummy... owwww-huh-huh... _cough_..."

Before long, Flash had instantly reached the maximum ward, bursting throught the barricaded doors and taking down D-Struct with the force of the high-speed collision. He whizzed around the room and managed to single-handedly takedown a dozen thugs metahuman and normal alike.

The purple-haired Puff hurtled to Flash like a cannon, leaving a trail of acidic smoke in her wake that burned up the room. Flash dodged in around as she zoomed across the room. Stopping atop a high rafter, she threw a cloud of acid at Flash, which he then dissipated by a creating a tornado-like force by whirling his hands. The high wind blew away the acid, allowing Flash the chance to jump and swing along the bottom of the walkway with skills that would make Nightwing proud. In a superspeed somersault, he hopped behind Puff and punched her right out. Then with a kick to the britches, she was thrust into an open cell. Flash closed it behind her, as Barbara electronically sealed it and activated the power-stablizers that disabled metahuman abilities.

"You long-underwear wearin' punk, let me the f-"

"Watch it, this is a kids show. Now where's the Red Hood?!" Flash snidely asked Puff while wagging his finger.

After prying the information out of her, he whizzed into the lockdown wing of the High Security... thick steel doors cutting off the facility from where Red Hood and the rest of the gang leaders were... in Joker's cell.

"Barb?"

_"On it"_ she replied back over the ear comms. After a little hacking on her end, the doors began to open as Flash raced through them... only to hit face first into the last one with.

"Owww"

_"Even I can't get in that far, made to keep Joker in there nice and tight."_

"Least they beefed up security after..." Flash couldn't even finish that thought, being forced to remember that Barry Allen his mentor was another victim of the murderous Joker. "I got this."

With gret momentum and concentration, Flash tapped the steel door, focusing on it. He then managed to vibrate his molecules right through the thick metal and into the room containing the Joker.

Pushing his way through and bending molecules, Wally warped into the pitch black room. But just as he got to his feet and rolled in, the man he was looking for was standing right in front.

"Hi, how are ya?" Red Hood non-chalantly said, as he then fired a strange looking gun at Flash's legs. He froze them solid with a gun commandering from lock-up in Bludhaven (belonging to Captain Cold).

"Ahhhhh!" Flash screams out in pain, the very molecules in his legs at the subatomic level, frozen.

"Tweeked it just for you. Knew you'd be the first one to arrive." He threw the gun aside and revealed another object in his hand, a crowbar.

Red Hood was soon joined from the shadows by Ebon, Holocaust, Talon, and Arsenal.

"Leave us. Go get ready to greet the rest of the League." Red Hood ordered the four with a venomous tone. Arsenal nodded and rushed out the main entrance way now opened. As did Talon, who gave Red Hood a long glance while he proceeded to beat the ever loving crap out of Flash with the crowbar. Holocaust scoffed Red Hood off as he stormed off, didn't like taking orders.

Unbeknownst to Red Hood however, Ebon seemed to disappear in the shadows as they dissipated. But he hid off in a back corridoor to listen in.

"Sorry about that welcoming. Had to keep up appearances and all" Red Hood laughed as he leaned down to Flash, throwing the crowbar aside. "Been a long time... Wally" he cautiously addressed him with the bang babies out of the room.

Flash's eyes opened up wide as he dragged himself off the floor as he could with his legs frozen and useless, his body bruised and swollen from the blows.

"So. It is you, Jason."

"Yeah. It's me."

"How?"

"Does it matter. Between the three of us we should all be dead. Yet someone we've all miracously survived."

"Three of us?"

Red Hood walked over to the steel container suspended by a crane over their heads. A metal vault dropped down, and opened to reveal the Joker. Strapped down and bloody.. laughing all way. Jason had a few rounds with the crowbar on Joker but tired himself out with the clown in the straight jacket.

"Seems speedsters are as easy to replace as Robins, heh he he heh..." he malicously gloated, while spitting out blood. "Excuse the mess, didn't know I was getting this much... company" Joker twisted his head and smiled at the Red Hood.

Red Hood punched Joker in the face a few times just for kicks.

"I am actually so glad you're here, Wally. I mean how great is this... two old buds back from the grave dispensing justice. Ha ha ha ha.. you of all people deserve to have the front row seat for _this_."

Red Hood pulled out his trusty knife and held it to Joker's throat.

"D-don't do it Jason..."

"SHUSH!" Joker said menacingly, "This is starting to get fun, don't ruin it!"

"After what this murdering scumbag as done to me, to you, to Gotham... are you really gonna paly the boyscout and defend him!? It's not the hero's thing to do, is that it FLASH!?"

"This isn't you."

"The scary thing is... it really is."

Outside in the main causeway to the entrance of Arkham Asylum, Holocaust patiently waited in the middle of the room, his hands glowing with blue fire as he stood by. Just then he heard the sounds of smashing and yelling, Superboy's as a matter of fact. All Holocaust needed to know was the capes were coming, the fun was about to begin.

Just like that, Superboy burst through the main doors of Arkham in glorious fashion. He leaped in for a massive blow to the Bang Baby leader, only to lock grips in a superstrong struggle that caused a shockwave, shattering the windows.

Superboy and Holocaust came to blows as his fiery fists viciously pounded Connor in the face. "That all you got, boy!?"

"Ahem" a voice whispered behind him. Holocaust with rage-fueled eyes turned around to see Miss Martian de-cloak and appear before him. With a shapeshifting momentum she created a giant-sized fist that clobbered Holocaust. Sending him flying. He landed at the feet of the Dark Knight himself. Before he could come to, Batman kicked him in the face. Out cold.

The rest of the squad caught up to him and began to load up, ready for action.

"We don't have time for this" Batman adamently stated.

"We do" Arsenal than said aloud as he revealed himself. Joined by two hulking bang babies, Onyx and the equally large stone thug called "Cinderblock".

"That a Gerignak?" Artemis then asked aloud in regards to the purple-skinned Onyx. Everyone on the team gave her a look.

"No." Starfire then said valiently flying in with eyes green and full of energy... "BUT HE WILL FALL LIKE ONE! YEEEEEEEAAAAAA"

She charged the two hulking bang babies as they likewise charged for the attack. Kaldur unleashed projectiles of water, while Nightwing and the rest took them on from all angles. As Miss Martian was about to join, she was slashed from behind by the airborn Talon. She and the orange-feathered villainess than flew up into the open air above Arkham out the door to battle.

Batman ignored all the bang babies and the teammembers in peril. He ran down the hallways of the asylum with all his might to find Jason.

"You and the League are here to give me grief about the people I've murdered?" Red Hood gloated Flash disabled on the floor, holding a knife right at the giggling psycho's throat. "How about all the peope we've murdered... by letting HIM live?!"

"Anyone kept count, I really lost track..." Jason bashed the Joker in the face again for opening his mouth.

"I understand why you're mad believe me. But you think, killing him sends a message. That your better at doing the job than we are?"

"Don't just, just don't. DON'T PRETEND YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT I'VE BEEN THROUGH. You came back from the dead with a swooning girlfriend, parades, the big damn hero treatment will all your little friends. I woke up in my own coffin, and dragged my ass out of the ground with my bare hands. All because of the LIGHT... and all because of him!

"And killing him will make everything the same again?"

"Nothing will ever been the same, But now I finally understand what needs to be done for the good of everyone!"

"Bull. Your not doing this for the good of me or anyone else, this is just pure revenge for yourself."

"I have to do the job YOU SHOULD HAVE DONE, WALLY! HE'S STILL BREATHING EVEN AFTER HE KILLED ME, HE'S STILL WASTING AWAY HERE IN ARKHAM EVEN AFTER HE KILLED BARRY! WHAT'S IT FINALLY GONNA TAKE BEFORE WE END THIS ONCE AND FOR ALL?!"

"Your not helping, between this and executing the Light... your just getting rid of the competition. Your as bad as they are n-"

Before Flash could finish that sentance, Red Hood lunged at him and drove the knife into Flash's right hand, before he could punch Jason back.

"DON'T YOU EVER COMPARE TO THEM. I'VE KILLED WASTES OF AIR OVER LESS INSULTING REMARKS THAN THAT, WALLY! AND I DID IT TO CONTROL CRIME, MANAGE IT RATHER THAN DICK AROUND FIGHTING IT. WE'VE LET THE BOUGHT OFF SYSTEM HELP JOKER AND GUYS LIKE HIM USE IT AS A REVOLVING DOOR!"

Red Hood stood back up after kicking Wally in the guy, angry, heaving like a mad dog. Then he noticed the ear-piece in Wally's ear.

"Aaaaand who do we have here on the other line?"

_"Jason?"_

"Barb." Red Hood's anger subsided to almost sober dispair. A voice he didn't want to chat to, as he turned back to the grinning Joker. He then turned around to a security camera, knowing she was looking through it to talk to her. "Tell me you understand. You... have to understand why this needs to be done."

_"Not like this Jason. I'm begging you... not like... THIS."_

"He ruined your life, he ruins the lives of everyone he comes in contact with. IT HAS TO END."

_"Jason whatevers happened, however you came back... just make an end of this... I don't want to lose you just as soon as we got you back. I know things won't be the same, and that your angry. You deserve to be. But we can help. You just have to put down the weapons, and let us help. I promise this isn't a trick, Jason. I promise. Believe me.. you can still come back from this. You're not too far gone..."_

Red Hood contemplated Barbara's for a moment in deep thought. He looked at the blood on his hands literally. Barbara and Ra's al Ghul watched from the other end of the camera as he took the Red Hood right off, revealing his face. War-torn and weary, like a soldier tired of fighting. With his green eyes he looked at his former friend on the floor broken and beaten like he once was thanks to... thanks to... all it took was another smile from the Joker to egg him right over the edge.

Ebon watched this whole scene unfold from the shadows, until he heard loud footsteps down the security doors. Then he disappeared with a smile, having lots of juicy new knowledge at his disposal.

From the corridoors, Batman ran in to join this bloody mess of a party going on. "JASON!"

Jason closed his eyes as he turned to look upon Batman. After staring down his former mentor for a few seconds, and with a shrug, he then pulled out his gun. "We all know that's the biggest lie of them all, Barbara"

Before Batman or Flash could react... he shot the Joker. Point blank in the head. The clown's smile faded as he slumped over in his straps. **DEAD**

Batman, Flash, and Babara on the other end. No words. Jason wasn't smiling or laughing, not even enlightened by what he just did. He just didn't care at this point. He needed it to be over.

Back in the main lobby of Arkham, the rest of the team was duking it out, unaware of what had just transpired.

Nightwing and Superboy double-teamed Onyx, knocking him off his feet with an old trick they and Flash used on Blockbuster. The purple behemoth toppled to his feet and rocked the whole room, while Kaldur finished him off with a wave off water bursting out of the pipleines in the floor. They splashed down on him, then with Kaldur's natural-born magic, they electrified and knocked the Bang Baby unconcious.

"Nothing school like the old school" Superboy remarked with a grin.

"Yeah, but I doubt he'll have the same shocking results" Nightwing said while pointing towards Cinderblock.

At the other end of lobby, Starfire was tussling with Cinderblock, dodging his fists being thrown. The lumbering stone abomination growled as he tried to strike the orange warrioress. Eventually after giving him a knee to his stony chin, he stumbled back then shook it off and charged her. Cinderblock managed to catch her in his clucthes with a mighty grip.

"I am sorry to dissapoint you" she said as she pried herself from his tight grasp with barely an ounce of strength, "but I am STRONGER than I look."

Star's fists glowed with alien green energy as she head-butted the behemoth then smashed away at Cinderblock until he keeled over onto the floor. As she wiped the sweat of her brow and dragged Cinderblock over and lumped him over by Onyx.

"Anyone else... you require help for?" she gloated with a deep breath, to the three boys in the room. They were mum, Nightwing slowly and sarcastically clapped.

"What happened to Artemis?" Superboy asked after realizing she was there.

"I think she is in pursuit of Arsenal. They have alot to sort out..."

"That leaves your Miss M and the dirty birdie up yonder. Mental link with her right now, she's got it covered" Superboy was grinning a little too much, the shared thought of his girlfriend in a catfight with a birdlady.

"Fine. Let's go after Batman, we need to get to Jason..." before Nightwing could finish that sentance, Barbera called in from the Hall of Justice comm link.

_"Guys..."_

"Read ya, Barb. We're on our..."

_"The Joker's dead."_

The four were stopped dead in their tracks, and whatever thoughts in there heads evaporated.

"What?"

_"Jason shot him. H-he's dead"_ a mix of happiness and anxiety was in her voice as she told them of this recent update. He got what he wanted, threw the hordes of metahumans at Arkham's doors to carve his way in... and finally finished off the Joker. The three were at a loss for words, while Starfire (given her lack of encounters with the Joker) professed no emotion to the news. Silently they they just simply looked each other in the eye and ran right down the corridoors at full speed.

Babara Gordon, back at the Hall of Justice, was somber for Jason. But in a manner of ways not for what he just did. She moved on from that attack, don't didn't shed a tear for that monster.

In her state, she failed to see Ra's making his leave. She spun around and confronted him.

"Where are you going!?"

"I have dispatched reinforcements to help you... detain Jason. After that, I shall trouble you and your Team no longer. I have more pressing matters to attend to."

"That's it? Everything's honkey dorey between us now, with Jason alive and Joker dead?"

"No. I'm sorry for these circumstances as they've played out. I really am. But this is truely... all I can do. I'm so, tired."

With that, Ra's al Ghul walked out the door with his long slender shadow trailing behind him. It disappeared along with the rest of him into the early morning sunrise.

In the maxium cell that once held the clown prince of crime, Batman marched into the room as slowly as possible, holding back the rage he was feeling towards his former apprentice. How far he'd fallen.

"This your design, Jason. Is this how you wanted it to play out?" Batman said with condemnation, as Jason stood staring at the Joker's body in the cell. Flash on the floor, as he managed to pull the knife out of his hand, but still frozen from the waist down. Struggling.

Jason turned his gun now on Batman as he stepped closer and closer.

"Stop making this about me. You know this had to be done, Bats!"

"I wanted to believe you were really alive, Jason. But I have no idea who the man is standing in front of me. I have no damn idea in the slightest."

"If that's true, you oughta tread a little more lightly, Bruce." he cocked of the gun back, ready to fire again.

Jason was extremely rattled by that comment, already on edge and unbalanced by finally pullling the trigger on the man who killed him.

"Don't take another step. Don't patronize me. For all your ability to put fear into the hearts of criminal, I did what you were too scared to do!"

As Batman helped Flash sit up he continued... "You've crossed a line. One I've had to walk along every night for as long as I can remember. The same line I taught you to respect!"

"A LINE YOU WOULDN'T CROSS WHEN I WAS THE ONE LYING ON THE SLAB!"

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't come soon enough. That I didn't have the power to save you. That _was_ a greater mistake than letting that clown run amok. One I lived with, and now one I can never un-do. I'm sorry Jason."

This heated discussion was actually about to bring tears to Jason's eyes.

"I don't want your apologies, I want you to drop the belt... and step aside. I'm walking out of here, Bruce."

"I cannot allow that."

Before the two could come to earth-shattering blows... the glass above them shattered. A platoon of ninja descended from on high, landing in front of Jason. Armed with swords and throwing stars, the elite soldiers of Ra's al Ghul stared down Jason. Then moved in for the attack.

In a cooridoor at the other end of facility, Arsenal was blasting away with his arm cannon, while Artemis ducked for cover behind doors and file cabinets, in the administrative offices. She fired away arrow after arrow that Arsenal blasted to hell.

"Your almost as good a shot as Green Arrow. But he trained _me_ better"

Arsenal's hand morphed into a crossbow of sorts, firing high-explosive rounds that incinerated one office that Artemis had ducked into. She kicked the desk over for cover as she fired a trick arrow right at Arsenal.

"Least I got the better gadgets" she proudly said, as Arsenal ripped apart that arrow on sight. Only when he did, it unleashed a barrage of little balls that produced an electrical current. They fried Arsenal's arm and all his little toys.

"NOOOOOO!" Roy screamed in disbelief as he tried to get the stupid cybernetic arm working again. With Artemis moving in for the finishing shot, he pulled out a detonator and activated it.

"Come any closer and I take you with me, bitch!" his vest lit up. An explosive armored vest for if he couldn't get out of a sticky situation.

"Really fond of explosives these days, same brand as the one you set off in Static's hometown to divide the League up?"

"Something like that. And if you let your finger off that arrow, I hit the button. I will NOT be taken in by the likes of you or your little club."

"Ollie would be so dissappointed in you if he was here to see this"

"I couldn't give a flying f-"

Before Arsenal could finish that sentance, a figure appeared outside the window he was standing next in the hall. In a split-second double take, before he realized what happened... Talon was thrown right through glass window and into Arsenal with a bird-like shriek. The detonator was knocked out of his hand as Talon toppled right on Arsenal and the two hit the floor.

"GET OFF ME, GET THE... AHHHHH" the bomb vest was ripped right off its seems and off his chest telekinetically, while Roy and Talon were levitated and bashed right into each other face first.

M'gann than appeared right alongside Artemis. She dragged them over telekinetically, as Artemis binded their hands and feet together.

"What did I miss?" M'gann asked.

"Quite a lot actually" as Artemis explained, revealing what she heard over the from the comms.

Back in Joker's cell, the ninjas clashed swords with Jason as he blocked their attacks, breaking swords as well as bones when he ran out of bullets to shoot them with. He came to blows pounding away at one them with bare fists. Just as he was about to pull a killing stroke on one, Batman grabbed his arm and threw him off. Jason got up and finally came to blows the Batman himself.

The punched and throttled each other, as Jason dodged attacks from the ninjas at every turn.. like a sea of fists. Speaking of seas, a great current rose up from the pipes and descendend down like daggers that Jason barley dodged. Newly arrived and using his scepters, Kaldur stroke at Jason with a liquid mace again and again. Jason blocked both and fired a line launcher that sent Kaldur flying. Nightwing threw a bird-a-rang that cut the line and dropped Kaldur down. Nightwing then pulled out his bo staffs and began to pummel Jason.

Jason blocked all with his arms, then tucked and rolled under Nightwing as he dropkicked an incoming ninja. He swiped his sword and slashed at Nightwing, who was now on the recieving end of blocking vicious attacks. Batman came up from behind and locked Jason in a chokehold. As this went on, Kaldur spotted Wally's frozen arms came to Flash's aid.

With a quick bit of magic, he unfroze the molecular ice that kept Flash in place. Painful to remove, but it was only liquid now as it dissapated. Flash got the blood flowing back into his legs.

"That's why I always loved magic, myself" he joked.

Superboy and Starfire both gave Jason earth-shattering punches to the face while in a tight headlock from Batman. It seen him reeling to the ground in pain.

"Heh heh heh... that the best you got!?" Jason mocked them from on the ground.

The remaining ninjas prepared to charge and kill the Red Hood, but Batman stopped them with a single stare.

"Leave NOW. Tell your master his debt is paid. We're... even. GO."

The last two bowed in formal respect to the ex-pupil of Ra's al Ghul. They picked up their fallen and maimed comrades off the ground, then the lead ninja threw down a smoke pellet and the whole lot of them disappeared in a whiff of smoke.

"Cutting deals Ra's al Ghul... and I'm the bad guy" Jason said, exhausted and bitter upon the floor.

Nightwing pulled out the handcuffs in his utility belt, just as M'gann and Artemis arrived in the room. "Wally!" she screamed, as she saw him bleeding out his hand and limping with two frozen looking legs.

"I'm fine. I'm fine"

With a sigh he turned to look at the corpse of the Joker in his cell. His eyes wide open with his head hunched over, but his trademark grimace gone.

"It's over." Flash said with a sigh.

The two of them turned to look at Jason, now somber and shackled, as Nightwing stood up his former partner.

"Don't even say it." Jason said jointly to everyone present. "Just don't."

Batman could only shake his head in dissappointment.

As the team regrouped, Batman grabbed hold of Jason and picked him up to his feet. The two stared each other down, student and teacher.

"Are you through, Jason? Did you get... your pound of flesh?"

The bitter and vengeful ex-hero couldn't even look Batman in the eye with that question. He turned his head, to show the long white patch of hair across his brown scalp.

As this crescendo of emotions could continue... M'gann stepped forward with a disturbing revelation she just sensed.

"Guys... that's NOT the Joker."

Jason's eyes jolted open, bulging as he ferociously turned his head. Everyone's expressions turned pale as they spun around to the believed corpse of the clown prince of crime.

For a second, nothing happened. Then the Joker opened his eyes and smiled... the bullet hole still in the middle of his head.

"Naugthy, naughty. Had to go and use your mind-reading to spoil the suprise. Mr. J will most certainly NOT... be happy heh heh heh heeeee"

"No..." Jason screamed... "NO. NO. NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"That as you would say" Starfire was the first to speak, "is just plain messed up!"

"Does somebody wanna explain this?" Flash nervously asked the heroes.

"HAGAN." Batman then said with a furious breath.

In a sickly display, the Joker reguritated his hold body, melting into a lump of mud and clay while shifting out of the straight jacket and onto the floor. In a matter of seconds he lumbered upwards, shapeshfiting long claws, a melted and disgusting facade with teeth and two bulging dead eyes. CLAYFACE.

He laughed and chuckeled as his voice deformed from the Joker's laugh, into his own slow and muttered one.

"TA DA!"

Artemis drew her bow, while Kaldur readied his water conducters.

"Easy kids, I'm coming in quietly. I did my part, heh heh. Took me forever to master shifting into people like the Martian over there. My first job was replacing the Joker right before you took him down in Central City those months back."

"You IDIOTS! YOU COULDN'T EVEN KEEP HIM LOCKED UP IN HERE... HE'S JUST GONNA KEEP KILLING AND..."

Nightwing punched the ranting Jason right in the face.

"He ain't wrong ya know. Joker's long gone in the wind. And I got the play the performance of a lifetime, fooling you all into thinking he was nice and cozy. Too bad my death scene left me suspectible to the Martian scanning my real brain pa... AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Clayface gripped his massive head in pain, as M'gann ripped apart his brain with red eyes. "M'GANN, STOP!"

Superboy grabbed her arm and ended the psychic connection. "I... I was only erasing his memory. I promise. Erasing everything from tonight. He learned too many secret identities."

Superboy was angry, but with a grunt he let her go, beliving she hadn't warped his brain like before. He stepped back and sighed. As did everyone.

"You were fond of that, M'gann. Didn't give the scumbags an inch just scrambled their brains. Thought you more than any one would appreciate what I'm..."

"DON'T EVEN" M'gann telepathically sent a stern warning to Jason mentally.

But the pained look on his face he got the message.

"Now what, you just gonna take me like... like any other criminal?"

The team exchanged a glance amongst each other, as they stepped forward and confronted the fallen friend.

"That idiot Alva is a storage unit back in Dakota, if your wondering. Static or one of the new recruits probably found him after dealing those bomb-oops... too soon?"

They were NOT in the mood for Jason's sick humor.

As Batman held the restrained Jason with his hands behind his back, about to give him some _friendly_ advice, suddenly he heard whistling...

Someone was whistling the "Hunting We Will Go" tune in the jail cell. M'gann tried to mentally track down the source as everyone looked up to find who was whistling. Instead the entire room was suddenly pitch black, shrouded by blackness and shadow. Batman pulled Jason in tight not letting go but a force pushed him aside and slammed him into a wall.

Starfire produced alien illumination to try and ward off the encrouching shadows blinding their sight. With only a litte green light, Nightwing, Superboy, and Flash spotted Jason. He broke his handcuffs with his own strength, while the gangleader known as Ebon handed him his Red Hood.

As the dead white eyes peaked through Jason's mask, he exchanged a nod with all his former teammates.

"They'll be a reckoning" he promised in a stern voice. As the shadows clouded him and Ebon, Artemis fired off several shotsa the both of them while the others moved in quickly to counter him off.

Batman let out a blood-curdling cry as he flung batarang after batrang in Jason's vicinity. He charged into them only to come within inches of punching Kaldur as he stopped in his tracks.

Jason was gone.

The shadows dissapated and the room was empty. Not a trace. And as they would later find out, Talon and Arsenal were spirited off with _Red Hood_.

The Dark Knight somberly left without a word to any of the teammembers. He did punch a wall on his way out, with his bare fist. The sound sent a chill down the young heroes' spines, it was a bitter remined of this mission's hollow victory.

There was nothing that really could be said, as Nightwing followed along behind him. The other heroes deep in quiet remorse as they all left, tired and beaten.

On the other end of their comms, Barbara shut off the system. She took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes. As she began to recollect four years ago...

_When she was still Batgirl and walking._

"Everyone, I'd like to introduce you to..." As Batman stepped into the foyer of the Hall of Justice, he turned around only to see no one behind him. The rest of the team let out a chuckle.

"Jason" he said, stern and monotone... as well as annoyed. A laugh rippled through the room as the young heroes and a few of the head Justice Leaguers cracked some smiles.

"Learned from the best I suppose" Wally (still Kid Flash then) said to a slightly shorter Nightwing.

"BOOYAKASHA!" A young Jason shouted as he come hurtling down from the ceiling in trapeeze-like fashion. He punched his fist into the floor as he landed in dramatic fashion in front of the original Team members, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Captain Marvel, and Red Tornado. He gave a wink to Batgirl that had her rolling her eyes. Then the pain started.

"Ow... ow... ow..." in hindsight pounding the floor after a drop from the ceiling looks cool, but hurts like hell.

Kid Flash and Nightwing sarcastically clapped slowly. "Very dramatic entrance, Jason." Everyone else got a laugh out of it.

"Ah-hem" Batman cleared his voice as the new Robin turned around and gave a nervous chuckle.

"You gotta admit, that was pretty good even if I didn't stick the landing!" Batman didn't say a word, which got Jason close to pouting as he believed his teacher didn't approve. But in a rare occassion, he got BATMAN TO SMILE.

"Would have been better if you used the technique I showed you. We have capes for a reason."

"No offense, but I don't know How you guys get around in those..." Kid sarcastically quipped

"Right, yeah... won't forget it next time, Batman." Jason was gald he didn't upset his mentor. He then turned to address his new teammembers. "Let's try that again. Hi, how are ya? Name's Robin."

"We are most grateful to finally meet you, Jason" Kaldur stepped forward and shook Robin's hand.

"Come on... you gotta start using the R word. Shut up, you know what I mean" the young whippersnapper was quick to correct himself with a pointed finger to Kid Flash. He shrugged.

"I suppose you've earned it" Aretmis then said with a smile on her face, "Just like you've earned this" Batgirl added in.

Jason was just beaming, a grin from ear to ear and full of energy.

"I'm M'gann, heard all about your from Di-errr, Nightwing"

"Good things I hope!" Jason jested as Nightwing gave him a playful punch in the shoulders.

"How does it feel to part of the team, ROBIN?" Superboy then asked as the other heroes stepped forward to introduce themselves and the Hall of Justice. Batgirl stood aside with Batman to take in Jason's shining moment, his foray into the world of superheroes.

"Are you kidding? How does it feel..." Jason took a look around the at the hall in all it's prestige, the faces of his new friends and allies. "This is the GREATEST day of my whole life!"

As the guards for Arkham returned in mass, along with police reinforcements to secure the building, while rounding up the inmates and the Bang Babies defeated by Flash and the League. As they were all carted off inside or police vans... the sun and its rays began to peak over the hills of Gotham. The first light had Batman and the team of young heroes leaving Arkham forlorn, and very scarred emotionally.

"Batman" Nightwing stepped forward to the somber and silent detective.

He didn't even turn to address Dick, he just stopped in his tracks and said, "Nothing's changed. This doesn't change a thing"

Batman still wanted to remember the boy he took and trained just the same as Nightwing. He wanted to remember that puckish smile the first day he joined the Team. He wanted to... but all he could see was the RED HOOD.

Unknown  
April 23th, 2017  
9:36 am

"Hope you had a pleasent Easter in your cells, ladies and gentlemen" a female voice said over a restricted comm channel. "Because we have a new suicide mission for you"

The screen faded to security footage in Arkham of the Red Hood. Killing a security guard the Scarecrow races his past him with other escapees. The image freezes.

"Few vids we can find on this animal, usually erases anything that links back to him. His name... is the Red Hood."

The video showed his image, underneath with images and stats of his outlaw accomplices, Arsenal, Talon, and Ebon.

"From what I hear he's been doing our job for us." Black Manta then said as he stepped forward.

"He and his Outlaws have been murdering targets of our investigation, enemy combatants you've been tasked to bring in for their vital information. We can no longer tolerate this nuisence."

"Especially since he helped break out the Joker, or at least from what I've heard that's the story." Black Manta was iffy on details, but word usually gets around when the Joker's escaped.

"Not exactly... but we do have confirmation that the Joker is also on the loose. We figure if you find the Red Hood and his accomplices, you'll find the Joker."

"Two birds" an Australian voice chimed in. "One stone, eh?"

"You have your mission. Does anyone have a problem with this assignment?" the voice sternly asked. Black Manta and Captain Boomerang turned to face the other members of TASKFORCE-X.

"What about you, Vertigo?" Riddler chuckled as he turned to the white-haired former aristocrat.

"That's Count Vertigo to you... peasent. And no, not a problem."

"If he can storm Arkham..." Bane said in a nearly mechanically voice of breath (he was now wearing a skull-like breathing apparatus). "Than he can easily get to the rest of us, I figure."

"Better to to take the fight to him and end this before he ends us. Yeah I got no problem with that... even if it does mean going up against the Joker" the quick witted Black Spider spoke practiaclly for everyone.

King Sha'ark, Killer Frost, Giganta, even the Clock King all nodded no. Working with the Light has them on the side of stopping the nutjob bumping them off for taking paychecks from the Secret Society of Supervillains.

All eyes then turned to the bubbly bloned in a red a black leotard.

"Ooooh, you don't have ta worry about me. Exteeeeensive therapy, heh heh. Mistah... errr, dah Joker. He ain't gonna get undah my skin. Promise!"

That wasn't exactly a confident declaration from the deranged Harley Quinn, but Black Manta took it a face value with a nod.

"And what about you Lawton?"

Eyes now turned to a slim figure leaning against the sidewall of a the dingy little bunker they called HQ. With a toothpick in his mouth he said, "Depends on if we really need to take the psycho in alive..."

He flicked his toothpick out of his mouth and turned to step foward. Right up in Black Manta's unmasked face, the light revealed him as Floyd Lawton... aka **DEADSHOT**.

"Because, I hope you don't mind..." he sarcastically and viciously said as he stepped forward, with his trademark wrist gauntlet rifle.

Where once was his right eye was a lot of scars and stitching, as well as a gleaming cybernetic red eye. The Red Hood put a bullet in his head and left him to die in some back alley. But rage is a hell of an aensthetic.

_"... personally I vote for dead."_


	6. Firestorm

**Story by Darksuperboy**

**Written by Zor-Alov**

* * *

**Watchtower  
May 27th, 2017**

"A girl could get use to a view like this" the wide-eyed Arrowette said to herself, as she looked out to the bright blue planet orbiting below her amidst a sea of stars. The view of Earth from the Justice League "Watchtower" tends to be less enrapturing when you spend enough time aboard in between missions. You normalize many things when you work with superheroes...

But since this was only Cissie's second time on-board the orbiting satellite, the granduer hadn't yet worn off. It was a calming scene to gaze upon, her small but fragile world slowly rotating. With all around it the stars and cosmos of far away worlds and galaxies. It was a tranquil and beautiful scene that Cissie could just stare out into forever...

"Hey, Geek!" a gruff voice yelled out from behind her.

And the moment was gone.

"I've been looking to have a little _chat_ with you." Weylyn said as he stomped out from the opening elevator doors. Cissie sighed and turned to address the renegade young alien (more like chaotic-good). The spawn of Lobo was now in alien leather that matched the attire of his cloned predecessor, though albeit shorter and with an Earth-flair of biker punk/emo gear to his attire.

"Really. First time on the Watchtower and it doesn't faze you in the least there, _Slobo_?"

Weylyn gave a angry snort at that mocking nickname. Then looked out at the same spectacular view of Earth as he approached her. His only reply was a disinterested "Eh. Seen one star, you've seen 'em all."

"Whatever." Cissie rolled her eyes, not willing to argue with the alien clone.

"Anyway... I got a bone to pick with you and that Superboy!" he jabbed a finger into her shoulder while Arrowette didn't flinch, staring down Weylyn.

"Is that a fact?"

"YEAH. You two must have had a good laugh tricking me to go live on in KANSAS!"

"Heh heh... what's a matter? The farm life doesn't agree with you?"

"Lot's of room to stretch you said... earn your keep you said. It's like slave labor! No drinking or swearing, lifiting crap and doing the chores. And let's not forget I have to get up at the stinkin crack of dawn to do them... _the morning is evil!_"

Arrowette couldn't hold back a grin as the towering young alien explained his apparent distaste for room and board on the farm of Ma and Pa Kent. She really didn't know how to reply so she just walked away giggling. Weylyn threw up his arms in an annoyed stance and followed along beside her.

"This isn't funny!" he barked.

"The big strong _Main Man_ can't handle an honest hard day's work? Yeah... it kinda is... heh ha ha ha!"

"I'll give you an honest day's..." he grumbled under his breath as the walked through the automatic doors of the Watchtower's long halls.

"If you complain about it so much, why don't you just leave?" Arrowette asked the question of the day, making Weylyn stop in his tracks. "I mean... you're happy to shack up in Gotham, Metropolis, some city apartment somewhere else if you hate farmlife so much. What's stopping you?"

Weylyn stammered to come up with a response as he scratched his head, all he could do was a mixed sigh and a growl.

"The city's are too damn cramped, and noisy."

"Ah-huh" she mockingly nodded.

"Besides, that's what you slags are expectin right? For me to quit, especially now that I got free grub and free room. Room to stretch this bad-boys" He unveiled his giant forearms, the gunshow. Arrowette yawned, rilling Weylyn's ego even more.

"So the Kents... aren't all that bad. Good food and whatnot"

Weylyn relented as much as he didn't want to admit, while crossing his arms "...yeah. I guess."

"Whine all you want, but they got you doing something else that gives you a purpose. Something good besides shooting and smashing..."

"As good as I am with smashing and shooting... a change of scenary for now won't kill me... YET" Weylyn couldn't look Cissie in the eyes to admit defeat in his dejected tone of voice.

"I thought so." Cissie said with a laugh

Weylyn cracked a bit of a grin, only to wipe it off his face with a scowl a punch to the shoulder. It wasn't a hard punch, Cissie would be in traction rather than letting out a sore "Ow!" to her alien friend's jab.

"It don't prove anything, Geek. I don't mind the slave labor now, but at least out there it ain't fragile as any flea-bitten aparment the League'd shack me up in! Can't walk five feet in public without something getting smash-"

Weylyn was so focused on Cissie trying to maintain his rep, he turned abruptly with a crunch, only to see he walked into the hallway doors too soon. He managed to burst through them before they opened all the way, crumpling the metal like tissue and making them impossible to close.

He started swearing under his breath, with his red eyes fixed on Cissie as she budged her way through the rushed electronic doors. She took a look back at the remains of the door, but before she could open her lips.

"NOT. A. WORD."

She silently nodded without a hand-motion to "zip the lip", as Weylyn stomped on down the hallway, the Earth still orbiting in view.

"Another upside to Kansas... you can also go five feet in public without someone pointing and shouting _DEAR GOD, WHAT IS THAT THING?!_"

Weylyn shook his head and let out an annoyed growl as Cissie caught back up with the towering young alien. She returned the punch to the shoulder.

A few minutes later, the two entered a large foyer that was on the other side of the Watchtower's main meeting room (for important Justice League sessions). The alien and the archer were greeted by Kid Flash as he zipped in right after them in gust.

"Arrowette... Lobo Jr, how's it hanging?" he said with a quick smile and a handwave. Weylyn raised an eyebrow at the brown haired speedster, while Cissie cleared her throat.

"I mean with the whole first time on the Watchtower thing, ya know. It's pretty crash up here."

Weylyn wasn't a face of false platitudes, or the inane chit-chat of the speedster who obviously didn't want two words with the guy.

"Second time actually" Arrowette had to sheepishly admit holding two fingers up. "Ah-heh"

The energetic speedster was about to ask Weylyn to reiterate, but he just stood there glaring then let out a bloodcurdling sound as he cleared his sineses. Making conversation time was now over.

"Allllllrighty then. Well, glad to see you made it _Arrowette_" emphasizing his liking her codename, since he suggested it "Heard they already voted to recruit Static's pals, as well as some girl named Empress. But La'Gann says the big news is that now with John Stewart away, they even elected the new guy Kyle Rayner..."

"Get out!" Arrowette said with a suprised smirk, "A Green Lantern on the team!?"

"Ahhh TIME-OUT" Weylyn had to interrupt, mostly to nudge his way between Arrowette and her friend. "The frack you all talkin about. Inducting for what?" he then said in a monotone voice that didn't seem like he really cared.

"He doesn't know why we've all been called up?" Bart then asked.

"League's called up a meeting to decide on adding new members to their ranks, and to our team!" Arrowette then explained.

"MORE names I got a keep track of..." Weylyn said, "Goodie"

"It's democracy!" Arrowette replied back.

"Watching people **debate** about who gets to join the private club? Democracy sounds boring"

"You got a better idea how to handle there, bub?" Bart then asked.

"Suuure." Weylyn stopped in front of the adjacent door... and took a few steps back before it opened. When it did as normally, he walked through and replied back to Kid Flash "Put the plebs in a room with the toughest guys you got in the League... whoever walks outta there alive is in!"

He gave a sinister chuckle as he then strolled into a large balcony overlooking the meeting hall below, where most of the League was now in session. The young heroes of "The Team" were assembled and watching the proceedings here above. Blue Beetle, Starfire, Lagoon Boy, Wonder Girl, Cyborg and Robin were leaning on the guard rail watching from the peanut gallery at the proceedings, as never allowed before. Flash was sitting in the middle at the seat usually filled by Batman... he'd taken a leave of absense after the Red Hood incident.

"I suppose under those arrangements, we'd send the qualifying _plebs_ in to fight you of course" Arrowette mused.

"Heh-heh, I was actually thinking of the orange chick" Weylyn sarcastically said while pointing over to Starfire, confused. "But I appreciate the consideration Heh heh heh..."

Before Starfire could interject as she looked over, Arrowette just waved her off with a smile and a silent never-mind.

It was at this point he saw with a glance everyone else keeping their distance from him. Even part of the league, he still wasn't trusted. In most cases he didn't mind people being afraid... not here, and not from them. Only got his blood boiling thinking about it.

"Jamie" Bart greeted the Blue Beetle, "So what's the vote looking like now"

**"NO"** all the leaguers shouted out in almost unison below.

Bart whipped over to the side to peek down, but Arrowette turned to Cyborg instantly and asked "Booster Gold?"

"Yep" he said aptly. Cissie nodded in agreement, she and the rest of the leaguers understood perfectly.

"Met him once, I kinda liked him..." Blue Beetle said dejectedly, only to earn glares from most of the young heroes on the balcony. He was the lone man in the Watchtower disappointed that Booster Gold didn't qualify for the league.

"Least he can't complain we didn't consider him!" Flash said down below at the meeting table. Silence as he slightly chuckled, "...Tough crowd"

"Short cut this year" Robin said to Wonder Girl back above, "Stargirl, STRIPE, Big Barda, even Etrigan. Go figure!"

Weylyn barely recognized any of the names being floated above him. But he decided to just go with the flow as he peered down at the proceedings with a sigh.

"You said there was one last name we should put into consideration?" Aquaman addressed Wally from across the table.

"I did, and TRUST ME... I think this is a guy we can all agree makes the cut."

He tapped the computer tablet on the glasstop table, a holographic display switched off from images of the showboat Booster... to a man whose head appeared to be on fire.

A stilted squeek of elation could be hear, and eyes shifted to Raquel over at the far side between Zatanna and Captain Marvel. Zatanna giggled as did a few others at that little outburst of suprise on Rocket's part.

"I guess I'll need to abstain from this vote?" Rocket then said as she composed herself and sat back in her chair.

"Curtiously" Martian Manhunter said eloquantly.

"He's earned this. That much I'll say" Rocket said with a huge smile on her face.

"He really has. The invasion proved it the way he kept New York from falling" Flash explained, remembering encountering the hero for a short while monthes backa s Earth was under siege.

"Are we sure he's ready?" Wonder Woman said with a voice of disapproval. Everyone was peeked with interest at the nomination, but some were now forced to consider if the hero was ready.

"He... they... whatever" Hal Jordan stammered with the terminology, "Have until now preferred the lone gun, one man army routine. Think he's a team player now?"

Flash responded to Green Lantern "Most of us started off pretty cocky. He's been around nearly as long as the original team has, rejected our offers to join the team. So yeah, it's just taken him a while longer to mature into his own, But now I really do think Ronnie's stepped up and ready for this."

"Suprising words of commendation" Superman said with a smirk and a raised eyebrow. "I thought you hated him."

"I never said hate!" Wally replied back in defense, "I never said HATE!" he echoed back to Rocket with a look of innocence.

"Really?!" Arrowette shouted down from above, breaking some decorum, "Artemis says you had it out for him ever since he _quote_ stole your costume design _end quote_!"

Several leaguers, especially Guy Gardner burst out laughing. "Yellow and Red... you gotta admit it's pretty simi-" Flash looked around at the cackling superheroes at his expense. He sighed and said "Forget it, just... just give me the damn votes!" Wally then sat back in his seat dejected as those still guffawing composed themselves and prepared to vote.

"I am so gonna make her pay for this later" Flash mumbled to himself under breath, defeated in his seat. The humor made this easier, for despite some misgivings everyone believed this hero was quite ready for the ranks of the prestigious Justice League.

"All in favor" Superman said with a stern voice.

"Okay, I gonna ask" Weylyn turned to the young heroes watching above. "WHO THE FRACK IS FIRESTORM!?"

**Ivy Town  
May 5th, 2010  
2:15pm EDT**

A young man snores away (sounding like a semi-truck) while sitting in the back of a packed school bus. He had the whole back seat to himself as the noisy bus barrelled down the scenic backroads of Connecticut.

Ronnie Raymond was snoozing away, blissfully disinterested in this little field trip. Unfortunatly this didn't go unnoticed. A grey-haired man in a bowtie stood lingering over Raymond as he snored away his academic career.

"Ah-hem" the teacher loudly cleared his throat. Raymond remained oblivious with a yawn as he turned in his seat.

Chuckles could be heard outside, Ronnie still didn't budge. Finally the teacher took out a whistle in his pocket, aptly borrowed from the gym teacher. He gives the whistle a loud blow and Ronnie like a reflex hurtles to his feet and assumes a wrestling position. But before he tackles the teacher he came to his senses and really started to wake up.

"Good to see you're taking this SO seriously, Mr. Raymond." the teacher scolded him as the two marched out of the bus to rejoin the rest of the class. He laughed the teacher trying to look cool in front of everyone else.

"Not my fault, they stuck his stupid place out in the boonies..." the brown haired excused his behavior. "Not that I really wanted to be on this stupid trip anyway"

The teacher pulled him in with a stern look on his face. "You didn't have a say in this matter, Mr. Raymond. Refuse to do the work, pass the tests, or take me seriously... I made it clear that if you don't make an effort on this trip, I'd fail you in a heartbeat! And no amount of wrestling trophies will save you'e worthless butt... unless you want to repeat the grade, that is. AM I CLEAR?"

Ronnie tried to not show the teacher getting to him with that lecturing, but it did on a level. All he could do was nod and reply "Yes, Mr. Conway".

The teacher walked away and Ronnie rejoined the group, trying to hide his anger at Mr. Conway... even more at himself. He didn't take school seriously, had no sense of responsibility in anything past wrestling. He hoped a scholarship in the sport would coast him through life, so he didn't bother with any of his academics, especially intro to Physics.

Either way, if he didn't want to be dragged down by the damn teacher, Ronnie had to make an effort... on this field trip to see the Hudson Nuclear Facility. The first of it's kind that combines nuclear power (a reactor core) with an advanced particle collider to create a more powerful form of fusion.

The class got the grand tour of the facility, the first completely safe atomic testing ground of its kind. A lot of technobabble and physics dialogue went right over Ronnie's head. Bored out of his mind but needing the grade while on this little trip, he didn't have a say in the matter. Go with the flow.

As the tour dragged on and Ronnie straggled behind, he looked at all the various gizmos and doohikies around him. Flashing lights and whitecoats all around collecting data or checking the computers.

"Geek city" Ronnie mumbled to himself with Mr. Conway out of earshot. Eventually he turned to a panel to his right with a big red button on it. _What does this button do _he thought to himself. With an amused grin he decided to push it for kicks.

"Don't touch that!" a girl in a the group turned and grabbed his arm before he could go through with it. Lorraine Reily, his best friend and pain in the butt since kindergarten.

"Do you want to set off the whole building?!" Lorraine yelled as she tapped Ronnie's noggin to check if anything was in there.

"Just having a little fun, I'm dying here! Mean it's not like one button's gonna make the place blow up or something!"

And ther was _the Look_.

"Ahh not the..." Ronnie couldn't fight that glare Lorraine used like a weapon against him since childhood. "Fine! Hands within the ride at all times!" he said while shoving his hands firmly into his pockets.

"Conway's already gunning for ya" Lorraine tried to explain to Ronnie like a dotting parent,"Try to tread a little lighter if you want to graduate with the rest of us in two years!"

"As if anyone really cares" he said under his breath.

"Don't ever let me hear you that again!" Lorry whacked him upside the shoulder with a stern look. But deep down, she knew he meant it in some ways. He just really hasn't been the same since his parents divorce. Aimless, not caring about anything.

"Alright?" With a smile that somewhat cheered him up, they rejoined the group.

Ronnie was nodding along listening to every other word to the tour guide, feigning that he took all of this serious. He really didn't want to think about any of it today, even if Lorraine meant well as always. His attention however as the guide continued on, turned towards a red-haired young scientest walking past the group. She was handling a touchscreen pad and going over graphs, charts, lots of numbers. Something about her attracted Ronnie, even if her cold stern demeanor rubbed him the wrong way.

Her name tag read FROST, by the time he was looking down to read it, she caught a glimpse of him. Staring at her chest. He had a dozen witty things to say as a comeback or to hit on her with, they all failed to reach his mouth in time as he stammered there with the attractive college-aged lab assistant.

Ronnie sheepishly smiled, and she rolled her eyes in disgust as she stormed off back down the busy corridoor of the facility.

Not one of his best moments, and Lorraine made him well aware of that fact. "What?" he said as he returned to reality and faced Lorry's look once more.

"You're hopeless" she said deadpan. "I mean that was REALLY hard to watch, I'm ashamed to admit I'm friends with you after watching that!"

Lorraine kept rubbing it in as she walked off to catch up with the rest of the group up front with Mr. Conway... leaving Ronnie to pout. She put up with alot of his dumbass moments, his jock-like demeanor since deep down she knew there was more than a brainless wrestler in him. He just didn't know it yet.

"Stupid fricking sonova..." he growled to himself, angry at among other things dragged along this geek trip. When no one was looking, he gave a console to his left in a large area a good hard kick. His letting off anger however, caused it to go blue screen of death and go on the fritz. "Ohhhhhh crap"

Ronnie rushed to the front of it to try and get it working again, "Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Craaap!"

He pushed buttons and typed as much as he could in to get it working. He knew he was in deep now. Ronnie tried to back away and avoid getting the blame, but without looking he backed right into another whitecoat and knocked his glasses right off his face.

"OH JEEZ! Sorry... sorry... I... aw crap..." he apologized handing the man his thick hornrim glasses. He wiped them off his finger then placed them back on good as new.

"Tech support isn't really your strongsuit, is it?" the tall and slightly aged African-American man asked Ronnie, tried to not act guilty.

"Well, ahh... you see... errr... NO." he finally admitted in defeat. This was it, he'd be hauled away by security for this for sure. But the scientest didn't reprimand him, just looked him over a bit with that dumb smile on his face to try and act innocent in the hopes of a short jail sentance for vandalizing property.

What he did do was move him aside to head over to the console. He glanced it over for a second likewise... and gave it a good kick in the front of it. The screens returned to normal, good as ever and back up and running. Ronnie's jaw dropped, he was saved.

"Trust me, son" the scientest said with a smirk as Ronnie breathed easy knowing he didn't bust up billion dollar equipment. "I've taken my anger on these hunks of junk myself every know and then..."

"And here I thought eggheads had better ways to do that. I mean, ahh..." Ronnie tried to re-phrase for the man that saved his butt "Thanks!"

"I can tell your not a physics kind of guy. Just try to pretend you enjoy this stuff better. Might give ya a better chance hitting on the prettier eggheads!" Yeah, he saw that sorry attempt to hit on the lab assistant too.

"Right..." Raymond said with discomfort.

His jovial wit and humor was unexpected, Ronnie was dead afraid this man would run him in worse than...

"MR. RAYMOND!"

Conway now stormed down the hall looking to ring Ronnie by the neck. Until he caught a glimpse of the man he was chatting with.

"Why, ahhh... Dr. Stein. It's an honor to meet you in person!"

Dr. Stein was the lead scientest and operator of the Hudson plant, a doctor of physics with a long history of performing crucial tests and experiments in generating power through atoms.

Mr. Conway shook the man's hand with what looked like a startled smile, a fan meeting his hero or something. Was unnvering for Ronnie to watch.

"I guess this young man belongs to you then, Conway. Part of New Excalibur High School's finest I'd wager?" Dr. Stein said with glowing endorsement. This caught Ronnie and the teacher by suprise.

"I think so" he said with a glare at Ronnie. "Hope he hasn't been taking up your time, doctor."

"Of course not! In fact he pointed an error in some interesting data we've been collected in today's research! Saved me an hour of figuring it out myself."

Mr. Conway was dumbfounded and slightly suspicious. "Really?"

"Well..." Ronnie put his hands over his head and acted suave, Stein rolled his eyes when the teacher wasn't looking. "I'm not a computer whiz like most, but I saw it and offered the Doc here a heads-up. Didn't want to brag or anything... heh heh"

He gulped at that last not, but Conway took this explaination willing. "I see. Glad my students can help you out, we're just fortunate to be allowed to this sterling facility, Doctor."

"Of course, of course!" Dr. Stein said as he patted Conway on the shoulder. "Say, why don't I handle the tour of the facility for your group, from here? Give them a behind the scenes sort of entry into this place!"

"Why that would be an honor!" Conway's bowtie nearly flew off with that elated note.

"Yeah, it would" Ronnie chimed in. "Speaking of which... where is our group?"

Conway's smile faded as he realized he lost sight of the group in the large place. He stammered to explain his leave, as he rushed off to find his students. Ronnie let out a faint laugh, then turned to thank the lead scientest.

"Ahh, thanks. You didn't really need to..."

"Oh yes I did. I've read his papers back when he was trying to get his physics doctorate... he's as much a pompous ass on pen as he is in person to most people!"

Ronnie delighted in the thought of that humdrum failing a physics class.

"Well let's catch up with the rest of them, and I'll try to go slow in small words" he poked fun at the teenage jock. He could tell just by looking at his yellow sports hoodie. Ronnie grumbled a little but appreciated the scientest's candor and friendly attitude, not stuck up or superior.

"Name's Raymond. Ronnie Raymond." he formally introduced himself to the lead scientest.

"Dr. Martin Stein... some call me Marty."

"Whatever you say, Doc." Ronnie replied back, extended a hardy handshack to the gentlemen. They shook and smiled.

The beginning of a beautiful friendship.

**Anchorage  
May 28th, 2017  
1:09am AKDT  
**_  
"I knew we should have taken that left turn at Albaqurque"_ Dr. Stein's voice said hummingly

"Shut up, I'm driving" Ronnie dryly replied back  
**  
**A bright burst of fire ripped across the cold night sky. From below it almost looked like a meteorite, a shooting star. It was all the armed man on the bow of the ship believed while on patrol. He wore a blood red hood over his masked face, armed and patroling with several others topside.

He was a member of the Cult of Kobra, and they just hijacked a ship under the jurisdiction of the federal agency known as _ARGUS_. No sign of trouble, only a scattered iceberg could be seen in the empty horizon off the coast of Alaska.

The sentry recieved a call over the communications link.  
_  
"Any update?"_ a slithery voiced said over the walkie-talkie, as the now unnoticed ball of fire in the starry sky... began to turn in mid air and plummet in its trajectory.

"Nothing. How much longer do we-" the cultist replied back. Just as he did, he heard a splash not far off from the ship. He turned suddenly to find the source, fearful that it could be black-ops american military.

_"What is it?"_

In the pitch blackness he saw the ripples, near a floating iceberg. The cultist percieved no threat. "It is nothing, brother. Now how much longer must we wait out here. We're not cold-blooded like our master!"

_"Our lord has beckoned we wait just 20 minutes longer. If our demands still go unheeded... the waters will run red with what's left of the crew."_

The cultist on watch drew a venemous smile upon his face at that thought, still unaware that whatever plopped into the ocean nearby... was moving quickly below the surface of the water. Straight toward the ship, with a faint glow to its presence.  
_  
"Either way it will be over soon, brother. HAIL KOBRA"_ the voice on the other end of the comms radioed out.

"Hail Kobra" the cultist signaled back on deck, with a loathsome breath of air so chilled it could be seen in the nighttime air.

He put away his walkie and checked the ammo on his AK-47. However just as he did, a finger tapped him on the shoulder slightly. The cultist calmly turned to his right, expecting another guard on patrol. Nothing.

A look of confusion crossed his face before a voice drew his attention right behind him. Hovering off the side of the ship was a figure who seemed literally on fire.

"Hail **THIS**!" he said in an almost dual voice, as the strange being punched him dead in the face. He then raised a hand as the cultist was thrust backward, the wall he slammed into behind him seemed to evaporate his entire body. The metal shifted into liquid and reformed around the terrified cultist. He was trapped except for two eyes and his nostrils to breath, as they shifted in a panicked expression in all directions for help. He couldn't move or yell, trapped like in amber in the wall of the ship.

"Seriously... it got old REAL FAST"

The firey being then touched down on the ship and silently made his way along the side of the bow. The cultist he left behind tried to remain composed... as well as try to fight the sudden urge to scratch his nose.

"Cold cold cold cold cold cold..." Ronnie mumered to himself in a mental voice, as he silently run across the ship. He then tackled another armed cultist on patrol and slammed him face first into the adjacent railing. Knocking him unconcious.  
_  
"How ever could it be? It's SUMMER after all..."_ Martin's mental voice wittily responded in reply, evidently using Raymond's earlier comments against him. He frowned in annoyance, while blasting another cultist with rays of fiery light that burst out of his hands, not like laser beams but almost more like accelerated particles blasts.

Up and along the ship, Ronnie crisscrossed in and out of the coridoors dispatching the Kobra cultists. He silently blasted most of them and gave a few a swift punch into unconciousness or into the icy waters over the sid. Ronnie even welded two others into the walkway beneath his feet.

As the last armed guard was jumped form behind by Raymond, he tried unsuccesfully to put down the cultist with a sleeper hold. While he struggled to make the cultist go down, another managed to come to his feet again. He spotted Ronnie and charged him.  
_  
"BEHIND YOU!" _Martin's internal voice shouted.

Raymond saw the incoming attack and with quick thinking lifted the cultist in his gripping hold up off his feet. He then slammed the other cultist into the approaching guard like a sack of potatoes. Each were slammed into the adjacent wall and put down for the count. Ronnie got his breath back, the wind was knocked out of him with that sleeper hold, more than the guard was.

"I don't know how Batman or the Robins do that!" Ronnie sighed aloud in a dual tone, as he melted the floor, shifting it around the last fallen guards. The metal floor restrained their hands and legs from moving. "I'll just stick to punching and blasting people with radioactivity."  
_  
"Well before we jaunt off and do as such" _Dr. Stein's voice replied, _"Let's get a lock on the hostages."_

The flaming-headed figure nodded and shifted the air within his grasp, particles shifted to another wavelength of vision... forming a heat vision spectralgraph at his fingertips. He glanced down over and across the ship, detecting heat patterns. Ronnie saw right through the ship as he detected more armed cultists on all levels. He raised up to the main deck, the captain's cabin. Several forms were up there... along with a tall form that gave off no heat of any kind.

"Kobra" Ronnie realized, it was the lord and master of the cult himself. He then turned his attention back down to the bowels of the ship for the crew. Suddenly in the lower port half he got a large number of heat signals. The kitchen most likely, 25 locked away with two guards armed and at the door.

"Gothca" the dual voice said with a grin. The firey figure flew down to the outside and placed his hands on the hull of the outside, creating a hole big enough to step right into. The hero gave the startled agents a hand signal to "shush" as he hovered it began to free them from their bindings.

Before the guards even knew what hit them, a force of radioactive heat burst the door right off the hinges and slammed them into the hull, so hot that the edges melted into the metal wall and sealed them tight.

Ronnie then turned to the newly freed crewmembers, as he picked up the guns left by the cultists and passed them to several of the ARGUS agents. One looked in disbelief at the hero's short work, another at the hero's powers and obviously that his head was on fire.

"Everbody here?" the hero then asked the agents.

"Steve Trevor" one agent replied, "They got him up top with a gun to his head. Waiting for ARGUS to liberate the freaks of theirs we arrested."

"I'm on it" the figure then nodded.

"Who... who are you?" a female agent then bluntly asked as she gripped an assault rifle.

With swagger and a heroic stance, the blue-eyed almost inhuman looking figure said **"Firestorm"**.

"Who?"

Ronnie couldn't help but plant a dejected look on the hero's face. Dr. Stein's mental voice sighed _"I told you"_

"Ya know... **Firestorm**. The Nuclear Man. I mean... anybody?" Firestorm turned to the other agents who stammered and looked at each other, as well as him, totally at a lose.

"Ahh forget it" the hero shrugged "Just retake the ship... while I go beat the shit out of Kobra." Firestorm could at least take it out on the bad guys.

"Sounds good to us." a crewmember then said as the hero zoomed off, to the topside of the ship where the leader of the cult was standing by.

"Was that guy an alien?" an agent then said with Firestorm out of earshot. "I mean he was dressed like those dudes from New Genesis that helped us in the invasion."

"I thought Firestorm was that hot orange chick" the female from before then asked aloud.

"Starfire" another heavier set agent corrected.

While the liberated agents moved out, Firestorm blasted his way up topside. In a fiery flash of light he landed atop several containers. The hero slammed down on the metal cargo hold, effectively making an explosive entrance (diversion) for the cultists occupying the ship. Martin's mental voice cried out in Firestorm's head _"I REALLY don't like this idea, have I mentioned this already Ronald?" _

"I've done enough sneaking for tonight, let's just smash" Ronnie told his counterpart. Then with a glare and a wave, Firestorm beckoned the captain's deck.

"Can Kobra come out and pl-a-ay?" he yelled out. Ronnie and Martin got their answer, when three figures leaped down from the deck to greet the hero. Hired mercenary Shimmer slammed into the deck with two rather large cultists by her side. "Guess you'll do..."

They removed their hoods to reveal reptilian features, scales and long fangs as if they had been spliced genetically with snakes.  
_  
"Why did it have to be snakes?"_ Dr. Stein with some hesitant disturbment, like an old fear dusted off. But Ronnie in command of the Firestorm form just cracked his neck, then gave the villainess and her cohorts a boastful hand gesture, a come-hither beckoned with a dual

"Bring it on"

**Ivy Town  
May 5th, 2010  
3:59pm EDT**

By the time Ronnie had left the restroom, the group was gone and he was wandering the facility cooridoors trying to relocate them.

"Great... just perfect" he said to himself as he aimless walked the lab floors with his hands in his pockets. No one was even around to give him bleeding directions.

That is until he spotted someone exit a door marked "Pumping Station". He didn't exactly get a good look at him, but as he quickly strolled down the cooridoor Ronnie tried to catch up with him.

"Hey! Ahh, you wouldn't know the way back to the-" The man ignored him as he whipped off his white lab coat and kept walking.

Ronnie was a little put off by the guy, and a bit uneasy at whatever he was doing as his black hoodie appeared. He ran up a little closer and managed to catch him, lightly grabbing the man's shoulder.

"Look, I'm sorry to bother you, and I hope you speak english or something... but I'm kinda lo-"

Before Ronnie could finish that sentance, the man shoved him aside quite viciously. Ronnie slammed into the ground with that thrust. "That one's for free" the jerk said as strolled right back along. "Not that you'll need it"

Ronnie did take that one without umbridge. He leapt off his feet and tackled the guy in a arm/head chokehold. Raymond noticied he was holding a pocket-size device in his hand, that he was pulling out of his jacket before he grabbed him. The man struggled to break free.

"How about now!?" Ronnie screamed back.

But the stance of the high school athlete was shaken by a brutal stomp to the feet, followed by a slug to the jaw that bashed Ronnie right upside the head once more. Ronnie collapsed to his butt as the back of his head started to bleed.

"See ya in another life" this southern-drawled man with short brown hair and a long scar on his mouth gloated. He pressed the button on the device in his hand as he smiled and walked away. Before Ronnie could do anything, watching him jaunt right back down the coridoor, an explosion occured back aways in the pumping room. The blast ripped apart the building as sirens switched on.

Ronnie lost conciousness with that man's cackle ringing in his ear louder than the alarms.

**Anchorage  
May 28th, 2017  
1:16am AKDT**

Firestorm let out a cry as he threw the spliced cultist off of his shoulder. "GAHHH!" he blistered in pain, after having been bitten by the overgrown worm. Before he could shrug it off though, Firestorm had to shoot a particle blast at the hissing fiend. The cultist slumped back, knocked cold by the blast.

Distracted for a moment was enough for Shimmer to kick him in square in the face. The other snakeman then clawed at Firestorm, missing several other radioactive blasts from Ronnie's fingertips. After aiming a blast at Shimmer, she grabbed the metal floor of the ship and managed to rip it up and morph it in her hands into a shield. Kept the density but molded like rubber that deflected the shot.  
_  
"I don't remember her having powers"_ Stein's mental said, almost baffled.

"Nice trick" Firestorm replied to the villainess, "I can do better!"

He waved his hand as he leaped over the metal barrier and turned its density into a heated substance. When he touched down he knocked her through it, as it cooled into glass. The other cultist continued clawing away at him, as Ronnie ducked and dodged. Eventually he swept his legs and knocked him down on the floor. At which point he accelerated the particles of the floor and bent them over as he cartwheeled over the cultist. Like a blanket of heated metal, it tarped over the cultist and trapped him. He roared with anger as his tongue snaped between his fangs. Eventually Firestorm kicked him in the face and knocked him out clean.

When his attention turned back to Shimmer. She jabbed him in the arm with a strike as he powered up a particle blast. It was numb and useless to fight with. He tried to throw another punch but she dodged it and knocked him on his butt. Before he could get to his feet, Shimmer headbutted him and dragged him up by his collar.

"Ya know..." Firestorm struggled to speak, "Between the two of us matter shifters, ya think one of us would be smart enough to retire on some beach by turning crap into gold."

_"That WAS my first suggesion"_ Ronnie tried to ignore Dr. Stein's color commentary.

"Should have taken early retirement" Shimmer than dryly said, her first words possibly ever. "Least you'd have died of old age. So, which one of us do you think's the smart one?"

She was reading a killing stroke as her fist began to glow with energy, until Firestorm glanced over her shoulder and said "Ahh, better watch out..."

Shimmer rolled her eyes, "Oldest trick in the..."

And just like that, an ARGUS agent struck her in the back of the head with an assault rifle. Down for the count, as Firestorm was given a friendly hand. He pulled himself up with a smile on his face.

"Guess that debate was settled" his dual voice elaborated.

Behind the young agent were a dozen other armed operatives, the ship had been retaken and the crew armed again. All that was left, was topside in the captain's deck. A cultist held a man with a gun to his head... meaning to pull the trigger if they tried to liberate the last ARGUS hostage.

"And now there's THIS guy!" Firestorm sighed as he got the feeling back in his other arm.

_"Doesn't Kobra know when it's time to give up?"_

"Let me find out" Ronnie replied... to himself. He then whistled up to Kobra and waved him down "Let Commander Trevor go, and MAYBE... this can go easy for ya Kobie!"

As Firestorm shouted up to the deck, ARGUS troops surrounded the deck and stood armed and ready on the other door to the wheel room.

"There's no way this comes out with you winning" Trevor defiantly said kneeling on the floor with his hands on his head. But the towering leader of the cult remained silent and composed.

"You freaks were never this desperate, enough to get caught like AMETEURS! Either way they're coming in, so if you're going to put a bullet in me just do it"

Kobra's yellow eyes turned to Trevor as his slimy hand then grabbed Steven Trevor by the throat. "I will not be belittled by any fool... or any WOULD-BE hero."

He let Trevor breath again, then stalked over to the window, as laser sights drew on him and the troops below readied. Firestorm's hands glazed with radioactive energy.

"I have only one demand for you wretches. Defeat me in open combat, no weapons or abilities... and your commander comes out alive."

Firestorm and the agent exchanged doubtful glances. "We have your word?" the agent hollared up.

"Whoever's brave enough will find out."

His pride would be his downfall Ronnie thought, as did Dr. Stein. Firestorm depowered and stepped forward.

"Alright then, snake-charmer. I'm just a big old blashphemer... so why don't you get down here and smite me? Come on, give me all you got oh _LORD AND MASTER_!"  
_  
"Three of his best goons did a number on you... maybe we shouldn't antagonize him"_ Dr. Stein was interrupted by the arrival of Kobra. His last cultist remained behind with a gun on Trevor, knowing full well he'd pull the trigger once Kobra was through with the superhero.

"Sure hope the kid's been trained by Canary or something..." Trevor said with unease.

Kobra landed on his feet without a flinch, leaving a dent in the floor beneath them. Three-toed feet like a velociraptor stepped forward, the talons scratching across with each rattling step.

Firestorm barely even measured to Kobra's top shoulder. The lord of the cult removed his hood, revealed an even more monstrous visage than his fallen cohorts on the ground. While they were spliced genetically, Kobra himself recieved supernatural augments... and they showed. A long neck that stretched out to reveal a viper's head, composed of dark yellow eyes and piercing fangs. If an apex raptor had joined with a serpent and a human, this towering abomination would be the result. His claws seemed sharper than those of the cultists.  
_  
"We could always just shoot him and call it a night"_

"Why, Doctor. That wouldn't be the honorable thing to do" Ronnie mentally replied, "We're the good guys remember?"  
_  
"Sure. And that means fighting fair against a behemoth set to kill us!"_

"Fight fair? Where's the fun in that..."

As Ronnie glibbly discussed the ensuing fight, Kobra pounded his chest like an ape in a show of force.

"Like you said, boy. You've called down the thunder. Now show me what you've got against the might of a god!"

Firestorm cracked his knuckles and said "Gladly".

**Ivy Town  
May 5th, 2010  
4:03pm EDT**

Sirens were going off like crazy, red lights flooded the facility as trembles shook the whole building. Labcoats and other individuals fled in droves. It was mass panic, scrambling to clear the area in what could only be percieved as system failure... a possible nuclear meltdown. Which is ten times worse when that meltdown causes a particle accelerator explosion.

The students of New Excalibur were part of the masses running for their lives, led by security guards screaming to follow the designated escape route. Try and remain calm... you know, despite the fact that the whole place could blow up any second.

As Mr. Conway led the terrified students at the front of the line, pushing and shoving trying haul ass, Ronnie caught up with them in a fast hurry. He had a hand on his head, bleeding.

"Where's that professor-what's his name!?" he hollared, barely able to hear himself think amidst the madness. No one had an answer, but Lorraine found him in the madness. "What the hell happened to your head!"

"This guy, I-I don't... I need to find him. This isn't what we think it is!"

"What do... wait where are you going!?" Lorraine screamed as Ronnie turned around and raced back down the cooridoor.

"I'M GOING TO FIND THE DOC! JUST GET OUT OF HERE, LORRY!"

Before she could stop him, Lorraine got bumped and shoved by two terrified whitecoats in the sea of fleeing people. "I'LL BE FINE... JUST GO!"

In an instant she lost sight of Raymond, as he hurried his butt to find Dr. Stein.

Five minutes in and out of doors and empty rooms, Ronnie found himself back in the main lab his class had been led as part of the grand tour. And standing right there in the middle as buttons flashed and warning signals flared, was Dr. Stein. Almost oblivious to the danger of the possible meltdown about to take place. Standing beside him furiously typing commands into the systems of the black-haired assistant Ronnie happened upon earlier, Frost.

She turned around to see the high school jock now present, "What is HE you doing here!?"

Dr. Stein then spotted him as well with bewilderment. "Ronald? What the hell are you doing here!?"

"I could ask the same thing, you two planning to going down with the ship or something?"

"Somebody get HIM out of here, we're trying to stop a containment leak!" Frost yelled over the roar of the alarms, typing away.

"You have to go, Mr. Raymond... the system is overloading and could cause a-"

"It's not a leak, no leaking! THERE WAS A BOMB" Ronnie revealed as he stomped over to the main control panel. The two scientests looked up in shock.

"Bomb?" Dr. Stein said quite hesitantly, "Are you s-what happend to you!?"

"Some guy that didn't look like he belonged... knocked me out then activated some device. Then the "Pumping station" or something just BLEW UP!"

"My god" Stein said, taking the bleeding high school student's word. "SHUT DOWN THE SYSTEM! Crystal SHUT IT DOWN NOW!"

The lab assistant quickly deactivated whatever program she was running in response to the alert

"Wh-wh-hat does it mean?" Ronnie said, stumbling a bit as he wiped his hand on his football jacket.

"We're trying to pump water out, thinking it's going to overflow and cause a leak. If that's not the case, then the systems are off and we're about to drain the entire cooling plant without knowing it! That would have exposed the rods and caused a REAL EXPLOSION"

Ronnie didn't exactly understand most of what that meant, but he soon realized this was sabotage. An intentional attempt to cause a nuclear explosion at the facility. And he may have helped prevent it by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Can you guys stop it in time?" Raymond then said, as he watched the red alarms switch off around them.

"We can" Frost then said with a near sigh of relief. "The system's responding, I think we caught it in time, Doctor!"

A slight look of relief crossed Raymond's face. "Thank god"

"Wait... something's, Dr. Stein the accelerators aren't responding!"

"What could be interferring with the signal?! SHUT THEM DOWN OR THE ENERGY RELEASED FROM THOSE WILL BE CATASTROPHIC!"

The composure quickly left Ronnie's face. Signal. "There's... no, no, no... there's another bomb!"

Both Stein and his assistant locked looks at that realization. If the saboteur left a bomb in the pumps, they he may have left such a suprise in the particle accelerator which now blocks them from shutting it down. The facility wasn't going nuclear, but they were in immediate range of the shockwaves of the accelerator.

"We have to go, NOW!" Stein said as he dropped whatever he was doing on his side of the computer systems. But unfortunatly, Ronnie was in no position to go anywhere... the blood loss had gotten to him once more as he grasped air for something to lean on and began to fall over.

"Crystal, help me get him to his-" Stein lept into action and put Ronnie over his shoulder, as his feet refused to comply. "Crystal!" Dr. Stein yelled at the top of his lounges again.

"Are you crazy, I'm for saving my own skin instead of dying to save his!"

And on that detrimental note, Martin's friend and lab assistant left them both to die, frankly. As she ran as fast as her feet could carry out of the facility, down the corridoors. A furious look crossed Stein's face, but to the matter at hand, he dragged along and moved as quickly as he could with Ronnie leaning on him for support.

Slowly they both moved together, Ronnie stumbling a few times as they made their escape.

"I really... messed things up didn't I?"

"Can't be too mad at you, without that blow to head we'd have had no warning... then we'd all be dead!"

"As opposed to just us... right Doc?"

Martin let out a laugh, to keep Ronnie's mind off what was possibly to come. The alarms were kicking on again, as the plant rumbled once more.

"Just stay with me, will get out of this. Just stay with me Ronnie!"

Everything can change in so little time, in only an instant everything that was... becomes something else entirely. The two had barely gotten to through the doorway at the end of the hall when the accelerators exploded in a violent fashion. Added in the onslaught by hidden plastique explosives. The rupture and cataclysmic nature of the blast unleashed barrages of energy that rippled like shockwaves across the facility.

The force of the waves knocked both men off their feet in a plume of explosive energy.

Down a ways, near the exit of the facility, Crystal had attempted to make her escape. She cut through a laboratory that was teeming with tanks filled with Co2 and other freezing gases to cool the reactors. As she raced through, the shockwaves caught up likewise with her, and the explosive force of the blasts ripped through her body, affecting her at the very molecular level. The blast knocked Crystal Frost into one of the tanks, with enough force to rip it open and expose her to some of the coolant. She feel to the floor of the lab as the gases filled the room, sending the temperature down to a brutal cold and freezing the poor assistant. But the shockwave of energy from the accelerator now fused with this other energy being put off within the vicinity. Her body began to convulse as she struggled to move... and to breath.

Elsewhere, the same kind of effects were befalling Ronnie Raymond and Dr. Martin Stein. Being so close to the blast radius brought a burning sensation to both men as they fell to the floor and began putting off strange amounts of radiation from their eyes and their hands. Almost as if particles around them began to glow and shift at their will. Both were confused and out of control, as the pain ripped through their bodies and rewrote their very being.

Then another shockwave let loose from the accelerator.

The secondary blast struck Frost like a knife to the back as she struggled to get up. Up her spine and through her very insides the energy surged through her. Frost's skin began to turn pale grey... her hair twisted and froze from the coolant in the air. Her very breath became as cold as a winter's day. She keeled over, choking on her own breath as her palms began to illicit shards of ice on the floor. She got to her feet, as her hands crackled like ice itself... into a fist. She gasped for air, until her gasps turned to guffaws, mad cackling almost as she held her head to ceiling staring into space. Her staring eyes began to turn blue.

Meanwhile, in such close proximity, the second wave of energy closed a subatomic reaction... the two men burst with energy and began to fuse. To form into a humanoid being blazing with energy... that manifested in a storm of fire.

**Anchorage  
May 28th, 2017  
1:22am AKDT**

Firestorm was in a losing duel against the venemous lord. His fists stung as bad as any razortipped viper, one punch after another against his ribs and shoulders. A swift kick knocked Ronnie backwards. Martin was advising him to stay down, but Raymond wasn't going to give up, even as the Firestorm form as battered and bruised by the assault.

Kobra struck quick and precisly with each move, even quicker now since his transformation. All the ARGUS agents could do was watch, as Firestorm halted them from helping him twice... especially knowing that Steve Trevor's life hung in the balance unless he fought fair.

Kobra's serpentine neck strangled around Firestorm after a brutal punch in the eye that left a deep cut on his brow. The life was being strangled right out of him as his elongated neck left him still able to face his opponent as he was perishing.

"Ronnie... Ronnie stay with me! RONALD!" Stein's voice bellowed like an echo as Raymond began to lose his grip while struggling to loosen Kobra. The fire on his head in the fused form began to fade.

"You indeed fight with honor, and lasted longer than most." Kobra admitted with a hiss "The stories told of your exploits... some have seen fit to claim you have the powers of a god!"

The usually composed Kobra let out a tremble of laughter from his breath, his tongue lapping spit into Firestorm's face with this bellow.

"From what I have seen here... frankly, I'm quite underwhelmed!" another crushing stranglehold tightened around Firestorm as the ARGUS agents looked on in horror with their sights drawn and ready to fire.

Ronnie struggled for breath as Kobra leered in more with his reptile-like grin. As it appeared that Firestorm was going limp, on his last throws of death, Kobra inched closer as his arms clentched his chest and tightened the strangle.

Then Firestorm opened his eyes, emblazened with rage. With a thrust he opened his jaw wide and bit down on the lapping tongue in front of his face. He bit down hard, Kobra roared in pain as Ronnie nawed on it like a maddog and refused to yield. Everyone was a gasp at this move, even Dr. Stein from his mental peanut gallery as he saw Kobra recoil in anguish and loosen his grip. Just enough for Ronnie to elbow his in the ribs.

The force of that blow managed to crack one.

As Kobra's neck unfurled itself from around his throat, Firestorm grabbed his head and with a powerful and momentus push... threw the master martial artist over his shoulder and like a heavy pile of bricks smashed him into the ground. He punched that head several times, then in a mighty leap hurtled into the air just enough to pull off a finishing wrestling move (one in fact he saw on television and was forbidden to do in the actual sport). He piledrived with both feet into the dead center of Kobra's back, right into his pelvis spine in a move that had even the leader cry out in pain.

As he now struggled to grab hold of Firestorm, he was punched right in the face again while Ronnie knelt down, picked him up and lifted him over his shoulders. Head first and with both his arms around his neck now... Kobra was slammed down back into the ground and back into the air, only to then be thrown hurtling into the adjacent wall.

This was a brutal attack, that even the lord high master could not have anticipated. Lethal, dirty, quick, efficient, if it weren't for the fact that he'd been left alive... Firestorm would have done well as a recruit of his organization. Everyone was in awe as the unstoppable cult leader laid bloody on the ship floor, breathing heavily and unresponsive. He could barely open his eyes from the force and trauma he recieved at Firestorm's hands.

"How ya feeling now... whelmed!?" Firestorm sharply quipped as he stood proudly over the fallen villain, his shadow cast over the leader. Firestorm was the one towering now.  
_  
"Ahhh"_ Martin was at a loss for words _"Nice... comeback."_

"Sorry, I've never pushed myself this far." Ronnie mentally replied "I mean I was like whole different person. In the less than normal sense, I ah-"

_"I'm not exactly chastising you, I mean I'm a doctor, not a referee"_

"Least I know where the line is" he sighed as returned to the real world.

"All yours" he then said as he turned to the stunned ARGUS agent. They're weren't about to attack him on his methods. He stepped aside as they restrained Kobra, all while Firestorm then peered up at the remaining cultist. He was babbling at stunned with a look of sheer terror in his eyes. The gun was shaking in his hands as Steve sat on his knees, both smiling and at awe from the fight he just witnessed.

"AM I GONNA HAVE ANY TROUBLE WITH YOU NOW!?" Firestorm hollered up in a more commanding voice than he could recall. The cultist dropped the gun instanly and fell to his knees, with his hands above his head surrendering.

"Clear" Trevor dryly stated as he got to his feet and agents rushed into the room. "Heard you prefer working solo"

"Sort of" Firestorm replied after a long thought.

"Would it be 'cause your always this loose cannon crazy?" Trevor half-joked.

"Fight fire with fire, I guess. This was actually pretty mellow."

"I'll bet" Trevor shouted back down.

"Ship is yours again, Commander" Firestorm saluted as he began to hover off the ground and his hands glowed with energy.

"And we thank you for that." Trevor saluted back as the cultist was lifted to his feet. Still trembling. He'd just witnessed the might of a REAL GOD.

In a bright flash of energy, Firestorm zoomed off into the starry night above. His heroing for the evening done.

As he disappeared over the horizon like a meteor ripping across the sky, a boat off in the distance watched him. A pair of binoculars followed Firestorm as far as they could until he disappeared by his fast speed.

The man holding the pair of binoculars growled in a huff as he set them down. Morgan Edge, a member of Intergang.

"We outta here!" he hollared to the rest of the crew aboard the stolen fishing boat. "Freezin my boat of over nothing.. I said get this piece of crap moving!"  
**  
Central City  
August 8th, 2010  
12:28am CDT**

An armored bank truck was ripping through the interection with two laughing fiends in side behind the wheel. Both in hockey masks and heavily armed as they barreled through the back streets, smashing into cars with the police hot in pursuit.

"Smooth sailing from here, partner!" the man behind the wheel said at the top of his lungs, then howled like a demon.

But just as they were about to run another red light through a busy intersection, the truck grinded to a sudden halt. The road itself melted away into a whirlpool of liqiud that caught the front end of the stolen bank vehicle. It then shifted back into hardened pavement over top of it, as the panicked driver stepped on the gas to no avail.

"Come on come on!" as he saw the police closing in, he yelled out "Screw this!"

He and his partner hopped out and made a run for it down a back alley. They hightailed it, with the driver hyperventilating to escape the authorities.

But then just as swiftly as the truck was ground to a sudden stop... so was he as he shoes stuck to the pavement. They seemed to melt onto his soles like gum, and ensnare his feet like a spider's web. He panicked as his partner pulled out a gun while racing back to help him. But he stopped cold when he spotted a figure hurtled down behind the driver. With hilarious effect, he pull a garbage recepticle over the man and banged on it a few times as he stuggled to move his feet. Standing in place and whining like a little girl to be released, the smile on the fiery headed man's head was intoxicated.

"I couldn't resist, sorry" he said seemingly to the armed bank robber, though to someone else perhaps that the gunman couldn't see.

"Don't come any closer!" he barked, only to have his threat neutrilized by the very gun he held becoming superheated. It melted in his hand into a puddle of liquid silver at his feet.

"What are you!?" he cowardly beckoned as he stepped back to the approaching Firestorm.

"Doesn't matter, I've been looking for you Johnny Boy. A long time as it happens."

The robber was baffled, frightened that this powerful foe knew his name.

"You're an explosives expert, right? Demolitions for hire... with your side pay being bank robberies with what's his name? Reston?" Firestorm pointed back to his hapless partner in crime. Derek Reston as a matter of fact.

The robber gulped, as Firestorm drew closer. Instantly recognized his ugly mug as he cautiously removed the hockey mask. The scar over his mouth gave it away.

"Your employer on the last job you pulled gave you up. Danton Black pointed the guilty finger right at ya Johnny, for the Hudson plant accident. I'm here to take you in!"

A sense of righteousness and victory was in Firestorm's voice as he further inched closer to apprehending this fellow, responsible for so many crimes as well as near deaths. Ronnie and Dr. Stein's included.

"Okay... cowboy!" the robber said mockingly, "You got me."

_"I got a bad feeling about this" _Stein's voice warned.

"Knew sticking with Derek would get me caught one day, I am good at what I do. Demolitions, I mean" he was cautious and nervous, but Firestorm sensed some confidence than the robber would let on.

"See as opposed to him, in any job... I come prepared!"

He clicked his finger to his left palm triggering a hidden device in his glove. Suddenly as the police swarmed the end of the block, an explosion occured a block away. A towering blast filled the sky as a building engulfed with fire... soon the whole block.

Firestorm saw the carnage and turned to fire a particle blast at the robber.

"People are gonna die if you don't go to help them! So what's it gonna be?" he snarled with a grin.

Firestorm had no choice, he drew his hand down and with a vengeful look told the robber "This isn't over!"

"I'll just bet it ain't, cape! Good luck with the weenie roast!" he said as he made a dash. Firestorm then lifted into the air to deal with the ensuing blaze nearby, as did police that hopped back into their cars to respond.

"See ya in another life!" he then gloated to the superhero with an evil laugh.

Ronnie stopped in his tracks midair. Then with a howl he aimed at the fleeing robber.  
_  
"WAIT! I haven't done the calcuations, RONNIE NO!"_ Stein yelled in his head.

The blast struck the robber, shooting energy straight through his body that threw him hard into the ground, gasping. "GAHHHH!"  
_  
"You could have killed him!"_ Stein chastised the teen hero.

"I shot him in the gut with enough juice to give him a tummy ache! More than he deserves if you ask"

_"RONNIE!"_

"I'm sorry but I wasn't gonna let that scumbag walk away clean. We put out the fires, and that blast will slow him down enough that we can catch him even quicker!"

If Martin was material at the moment, he'd be giving Ronnie a stern glare. But he wasn't so with a sigh he said _"We're gonna talk about this later"_

"Sure thing Dad" he jokingly bopped his head, "Sorry... Doc!"

Firestorm then flew over in a pulse-pounding miliasecond over to the neighborhood ablaze. As police coordined off the street and helped evacuate homes while the Fire department took its sweet time to get there.

Ronnie set down in the middle of the street, then held out his hands. Focusing on all the particles in the air, all the energy being put out... Firestorm glowed with radioactive particles of his own as the fire on his head grew. The flames within the abandoned building that was detonated were sucked into his palms like a vaccum, as were the adajacent fires all around. He culled all the energy being put off by the flames and drew the energy in to kill the fires.

Ronnie's stamina was being depleted, this was excruciating work to be done as Firestorm's power drew the flames in like a ring of fire all around him. It was a display that couldn't be described from the onlookers watching the hero.

But then, as he continued to suck in the fire's energy... a storefront's gas line erupted the flames... causing an even greater explosion to engulf the block. Police were knocked back by the blast. Windows shattered as Firestorm lost concentration. With one hand he tried to draw in this new eruption of energy and fire.

The building's structure couldn't hold... the three story deco began to give way. The front side of it began to topple over, but Firestorm's power was being divided as it is. He couldn't shift the density or matter it time as it was about to fall upon innocent bystanders.

"GET OUT OF THE-" he screamed to the people below, as a woman held her toddler in her arms and prepared to shield him.

Then just like that... the rubble richotched off of a bright purple bubble. A construct of some kind of energy that protected the pedestrians. They looked up at it and cried out in relief, as did Firestorm.  
_  
"Thank god!"_ Martin said aloud mentally.

"Yeah" Firestorm's dual voice said at the beckon of Ronnie... "But how in the he..."

He looked up and got his answer, as a girl his age hovered over to greet him. Short-haired, earings in her years, and a blue jumpsuit and jacket. He wasn't exactly a fashion expert himself, but the look took Firestorm aback... as did the smile on Rocket's face.

His cheeks began to blush. "Heeeeello" he said, wishing that had come out better.

"Hey yourself" she said back, raising an eyebrow when she saw him grinning ear to ear. "You okay there, hotstuff?"

"I think so... did it hurt?"

"Did what hurt""

"When you..."

_"DON'T YOU DARE FINISH THAT LINE!"_ Martin hollared almost reverberating out his ears in such a pitch.

"Ahhh-nothing. Sorry. Name's... name's... I-I knew this beforehand" he said, stumbling to finish a sentance. She bite her lip trying to not laugh at this awkward moment.

"Firestorm?"

"Yes... YES! Ahh, yeah.. huh. Most people remember the flaming head, not the name."

"Face isn't half bad either... errr I mean. I just read the papers is all. As opposed to some people. Name's Rocket"

She held out a hand to shake it, but in deboneir style, and despite Martin's best advice... Ronnie kissed it. She was taken a little aback by his frankness, but charmed.

It only takes a moment for everything to change. For everything to be altered and joined into one, in this case husband and wife. Neither Firestorm nor Rocket would realize until way down the line this was what awaited them. They hadn't even dated yet.

Martin had a hunch about their chemistry (he was a scientest after all)... it would just take the two to eventually catch up on the fact that this random moment of heroism was in fact the chance meeting of each the loves of their lives.

**New York City  
May 28th, 2017  
7:31am EST**

Ronnie never thought he'd be able to sleep after the beating he took last night. His muscles ached, his shoulder stung from the bite that was chomped out of him, bruised his legs and his knuckles by fighting Kobra himself. It even hurt to snore.

He was a bloody mess after he crashed just five hours after returning home. Nothing and nobody was going to wake him...

"RAYMAN!" a three and half year old voice hollared at the top of his lungs

Amistad, as wired as usual in the morning, lept up onto the bed. He divebombed right onto Ronnie's chest, as the hero leaned up with a anguish groan. He was wide-awake now.

"Ahhhhh, heh-heh, ow. Ami! Come here, litte guy!"

With a smile and a chuckle, Ronnie playfully grabbed up Amistad and started blow raspberries into his belly button. Amistad giggled as he tried to escape.

"No-nooo-ahhhhhahahahaha!"

"Well, what'd we say about sleepin in on the weekends, huh?" Ronnie asking the rugrat, as he continued to mock-torture the child.

As he got Amistad in a head vice and agonized him with further raspberries, as well as going for the ever ticklish feet, Amistad finally pounded the bed as the signal that Ronnie was looking for

"Okay... GIVE! GIVE!" Amistad said amidst gasping laughs, pounding the mattress like a little wrestler giving the surrender signal.

"Heh... that's better" Ronnie also laughed, as he whirrled Amistad back around kneeling on the bed, scruffling away his bedhair while patting him on the head. "So how we doin' little man, you behave last night for Auntie Lorry?"

"Yeah." he nodded, "We played Mario Kart, and then she ordered some pizza"

"Pizza, yum!" Ronnie licked his chops as he sat up beside him, straightening his back. "Hemh... tell the truth, Ami. You didn't give her the puppy eyes routine to get soda you aren't suppose to have, now did ya?"

His suspicious eyes turned to Amistad, who made a popping noise with his mouth as his eyes avoided contact. After a few seconds he sheepishly replied "Nope."

"Ah-huh." Ronnie wasn't buying it. "I have Batman on speed-dial, remember? Do I have to call him up to investigate?"

Amistad furiously shook his head now, and his innocent eyes wide with terror at the thought of one of Rayman's Superfriends interrogating him over one cup of soda.

"Alrighty then." Ronnie smiled devilshly "Well, you want me to make you some breakfast, Ami?"

"Sure... eggwhite omelette. Hold the pepper." he wittingly replied for a child his age.

"How about pancakes, smart aleck?" Ronnie asked again, while rubbing his eyes.

Amistad nodded with a grin. Ronnie swooped him up and plopped him out of the bed, "Why don't you ask Aunt Lorry if she wants me to make her anything!" With that command from _Rayman_, Amistad hit the ground running into the living room.

Out of eyesight, Ronnie fell on the ground face first with a moan, it hurt like hell. Worse than that even. He really didn't want to lift so much as a finger, in the condition he was in after that match with the Kobra cult. But then Ronnie thought to himself as he laid on the cold wood floor, Raquel would probably frown upon letting the boy starve. He'd already be in a jam for getting "Aunt" Lorraine to babysit for him again while he went crimefighting during an important JL meeting.

With tight muscles and every part of his body screaming, Ronnie got to his feet, and put on a clean... semi-clean... shirt. Took a bit of effort to walk out to the next room, his legs feeling like slabs of concrete.

"Oohhhhhh..." he groaned to himself as put on a happy face for Amistad. "Morning, Lorr-" in his stupor he slipped on a loose crayon. He felt right on his tookus, which was already feeling sore. With a groan he opened his eyes as he felt his head, only to see his childhood friend standing over... giving him _the look_. "Rough night?"

"Doesn't even begin to describe it"

With a sigh, she helped him up to his feet while Amistad hopped over and started to push him up from the other side.

**Unknown  
May 29th, 2017**

"Second time... second god damn time the League's thwarted the buy!" Morgan slammed his fist into the metal table, ranting against the efforts of Intergang being stopped once more by the capes.

"Told ya we shouldn't have made a deal with those scale-faced buttmunchers" a bald little man in a green jumpsuit and goggles snipped. He was doing some kind of technical work on a tabletop with sparks flying out.

The deal was Kobra takes the ship and kills the ARGUS crew, and in return Intergang would commandeer the weapons on board while the cultists sent their little message. Only seemed fair. But now the gang was left with nothing once again, as they sat in their cluttered and dishembled safehouse.

"I wanna know how that fire-headed freak even got a lock on those fangfaces?! Not like ARGUS gonna cry for help from the-"

Before Morgan could finish that sentance, Whisper D'Aire stopped him cold "Wait? What did you just say? Fire-headed..."

The midget was thrown off his stool when a hand reached up off the table and flung him off in an angered fistpounding. Someone was not happy.

"You're saying it was FIRESTORM!?" a drawled voice that screamed at Edge, not slightly fearful for his life.

"Does it matter, one Justice League do-gooder's the same as any other"

"NOT TO ME IT DOESN'T!" the voice viciously replied back as he clentched his teeth. Revealing a face with short brown hair and a long scar on the cleft of his mouth.

"Not to any of us, Mr. Edge" Whisper said in a calmer tone than the man as he hopped off the lab table. The midget know as Gizmo got to his feet as well but keep a distance.

"Before you joined up Intergang tried to replicate his _distinct_ abilities. I mean imagine an army of enforcers that can bend matter around them, control radioativity and subatomic particles..."

"Yeah, yeah, you want an army and all that crap from fireboy. But the last time you tried to replicate _the accident_ they say created him, sweetheart..." His hand slided across her cheek playfully, but she didn't seem to appreciate or reciprocate the advance of the man "you nearly ripped open a black hole over Switzerland!"

"Not one of our shining moments" Whisper had to admit. "Last time we hire Parasite to do anything."

"If it ain't business... this sounds pretty personal, boss" Morgan than said with apprehension and not wantint to incur his wrath. He glanced over to Edge, but only nodded in agreement.

"Yeah. You could say that. Me and him got some unfinished business between us."

The man scratched his face, quite ruthlessly as the memories came back in his mind's eye. His voice started to crack as well. Almost with tones a synthesizer.

"I got sick because of him... I just know it was because of him. He hunted me down like a dog, and when he threw me behind bars they put me on death row! But I was a dead man either way."

He snapped and tore right into his face. But there wasn't blood or gore, the skin ripped off almost like plastic covering.

"Gonna take me another friggin hour to put that back on" Gizmo mumbled under his breath as Intergang's leader went on the rampage. He designed the skin polomer to disguise their leader, but it was paperthin unfortunatly to the skeletal form underneath that could shapeshift at will.

"That freak left me NO CHOICE. No choice but to let those doctors from LexCorp... turn me... turn US... INTO THIS"

When the man turned his head, he revealed a metallic skeleton underneath, with a burning green retina in his right eye.

It was John Corben... _METALLO_

"We're barely holding together by a thread. THIS gang." Whisper saw revenge as an unneeded sidetrack for their operations "You may of helped us off life support, John. But now you want us to drop everything and help kill this guy!?"

Metallo chuckled a little, with his metallic voice beginning to show again, amongst other instabilities. Since the invasion, Corben had remained under the radar. Even managed to take over control of Intergang.

"This is personal for all of us. He messed with us, he messed with Intergang's operations. Time for payback all around! Dissect his ass for all we care, make your little army of Firestorm troopers. What WE WANT... we DESERVE for what he's done to us... is to see him to suffer! To make him wish he was **DEAD**! We want his friends and family... **DEAD**! His house... **burned to the ground**! WE WANT TO TAKE EVERYTHING FROM HIM... THEN SPIT IN HIS ASHES!"

Metallo wasn't the model of mental health, given that a human brain and an evil ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGANCE reside in control of this android monstrosity. If the third person at least didn't point to the fact that the two minds were still at battle within the Metallo form... Corben wasn't as human and in control as he seemed. Vengeance against Firestorm had been festering in John Corben since before the procedure that turned him into a walking death machine.

As Metallo looked into a nearby mirror, his face half skin and half shining skull... and a big chunk of glowing green kryptonite in his chest. He smashed the mirror with his face, over and over again until the flesh ripped off his fist and revealed metallic fingers with the rest of his body.

The AI in his brain began to flood his thoughts with schematics, blueprints of the Hudson facility. Attempting to hack into the Justice League database on this venegeful priority. But Corben couldn't handle the stress as he pushed out the digital minutia and readouts in his brain and within his vision. Since the invasion, and LexCorp's rewiring, Corben has managed to have some control over the Metallo body.

"Heh heh heh heh... No one can protect him now. He can't even protect himself" His iron teeth clentched as his green eye turned red "He's the one who's gonna know what it's like to be HUNTED... "

"Okaaay" Morgan nodded, taken aback by this than stable display. As were the rest of the gang members. "So, what do want us to do first, Boss? Main thing about this cape... is that they kinda make it hard to figure out WHO they are."

"Will just have to rectify that now won't we?" Metallo seethed with anger as explained their next course of action.


	7. Batgirl

**Story by Darksuperboy**

**Written by Zor-Alov**

* * *

_"Everything I've done for you has prepared you for this! Led up to THIS moment... and now you disgrace me!"_

The girl was shaking with nervous tension, clutching the katana in her small hands. An angry man hovering over, looking as if to strike her.

"I didn't raise a weakling, a coward! Do as I say and finish him!"

The angered man pointed to a figure, on his knees holding his hands behind his head. His eyes closed, and his face dretched with sweat... he reeked of fear. Around him laid his dead soldiers, various martial artists with weapons and bones broken at the hands of the girl's father. Now it was her turn.

Cassandra turned back to the man clad in a ninja mask, showing only his cold blue eyes. The girl was beginning to weep.

"I-"

Before the timid girl clad in black could get out a syllable, she was slapped viciously in the face.

"NOOOOO TALKING! THE SHADOWS DO NOT SPEAK!"

The salp stung her red trembling face.

"I GAVE YOU AN ORDER, CHILD! YOU'VE DISGRACED ME ENOUGH ALREADY, DON'T TAINT THIS KILL WITH THOSE PATHETIC TEARS!"

Cassandra closed her eyes and shook her head, racked with quaking apprehension. She couldn't kill this man, this target.

"We do not flinch in the face of our duties, we do not betray the contract or the mission! You're not showing him mercy child, YOU'RE ONLY SHOWING HIM YOUR WEAKNESS!

_**I WILL NOT TOLERATE WEAKNESS**__, SO EITHER FINISH THIS TASK THAT I HAVE ORDERED OF YOU... OR I SHALL HAVE TO EXECUTE THE BOTH OF YOU TO REDEEM MY HONOR!_

Cassandra clentched her teeth, as the muscles in her hands began to tense with terror. She opened her eyes, then let out an animalistic yell as she used all her might, all her rage, and swung the sword down upon her victim.

A scream of panic filled the air as a young woman hurtled to her feet in sheer terror. She was breathing heavily as she clutched a small piece of wood in her hand from off the floor, ready to strike. But the row house was as dark and abanonded as usual, save for her.

Just a nightmare, the kind that usually haunted Cassandra Cain's waking moments... rather than those peacefully asleep. She dropped the plank in her hand, slamming it back down into the floor. In her darkest dreams she was holding that... blade. Another part of her past she wanted to forget.

She breathed heavily laid back down on the mattress, beginning to compose herself. She wiped the sweat from her brow and got to her feet. She slept without a top because of the heat, but now she grabbed an undershirt to cover herself. From the neon and street lights, rays crept through the shuttered up building. Enough view to see out into the world. Cassandra walked over... and peered through the boards into the grim cityscape.

**Gotham City  
May 27th, 2017  
9:27pm EDT**

After throwing on jeans and a hoodie jacket, Cassandra crept through the boards that sealed the rowhouse. She slide them back into place, appearing like the decrepit house was still sealed up.

She couldn't sleep, she just needed to take a little walk to feel the night air. Not that anyone living on the streets can really sleep.

The dark deco architecture littered the allies and backstreets of Gotham. Like the gothic world of gargoyles slowly being devoured by modern art, only to fade and collapse under a constant recession. This was the landscape Cassandra survived in for the past four years, scraping by as she could and avoiding the gangs and costumed villains that roam the dark corners of the city.

The madness and crime usually known for Gotham had dwindled since the invasion. Only the hardcore psychos were still operating, the usual suspects and petty criminals were feeling the love as it were, embracing new life paths after surviving an alien attack on the entire planet.

So in relative terms, Gotham was semi-safer than usual.

But as Cassandra saw while walking through the neighborhoods, their were still parts of the city decimated and ruined by the attack. Hard to tell most apart from the usual delapitated structures in Gotham. As she strolled through, the faces she often recognized of fellow downtrotten and homeless... were starting to dwindle. More and more of the usual faces sleeping in boxes, begging for change or rummaging through the garbage. Cassandra wasn't exactly a people person, but it was disconcerting to see the folks on the streets disappear. Something in her gut said something was going on.

Past one alley she saw a frequent occupant, a long-haired man mumbling to himself. He hand a beard to match as the disturbed man kept to himself. Cassandra wanted to give him a bit of change she scrambled for herself. But as she reached into her pocket, a street lamp nearby started to act up, intensifying in noise and light. The man twitched and screamed as she crawled behind a trash bin. Cassandra never knew anyone as scared of bright lights as that poor sick man, cowering like a beaten dog. She backed away with a dejected look as she went on her way. She needed some grub before attempting to turn in again for the evening.

On the corner of a desolate intersection, she looked up into the nightsky, red with the haze of the cityscape. She stared into the stars, almost losing herself in their radiance. She wanted to see more of the worlds out there, less of this one as she then crossed the street. The only traffic was a gangbanger on a bicycle that stared her down as she crossed. Cassandra kept steppin, and he rolled on.

She sighed some relief, for she'd survived this long with having to utilize her lethal skills. Skills drilled into her most of her life.

_A young Cassandra's fingers blistered red as she slashed away, relentless at sack after sack, after sack... of cement bags being thrown at the young girl. Slash after slash, but the heavy bags kept flying. Sweat and blood was beating down her face and palms, as she cleaved the bombardment of cement in half._

Cassandra kept on steppin. She wanted above all else to escape that life.

Around the corner of an all-night diner, a garbage boy tossed into the dumpster a plastic bag. As he slammed the metal door behind him, Cassandra crept on in and swiped the bag. What they consider garbage, was a goody bag for street-folks like herself. Day-old bagels and pasteries no one had touched or ordered, still warm and fresh enough to Cassandra's standards. She licked her lips as she bit into a blueberry muffin.

She nowned down on a muffin and two apple strudels by the time she made her way back past the alley down the street. She left bran muffins for the beared man, who peeked behind the dumpster he was huddled behind. A weak smile streteched across his face.

Before she turned to corner to head back "home", with the plastic bag over her shoulder like halloween candy, she thought for a second and headed down another alley. She crisscrossed in and out of the steam-filled back passages, closer to the shorefront district. Smell of fish made that clear.

A stray dog passed by as Cassandra approached an overpass on the edge of the water. Sitting on a sleeping bag and clutching a backpack was a blonde-haired young woman, 14. As Cassandra approached her, she let out a whistle and tossed a bagel in the air.

The girl jolted awake from her short snooze and grabbed the bagel like a baseball catcher. Startled at first, she looked up and smiled at her friend. Cassandra elated the closest she could give for a smile.

"Thanks!" Stephanie said as she took a bite. Cassandra leaned against the support of the bridge and sat down beside the fellow vagabond, to rest her feet for a second.

"N-n-eh..." Cassandra struggled to reply softly back in engrish. She only attempted english for special occassions, reading and writing didn't come any easier to her. Instead she gave a thumbs up, to which Steph laughed off then took another bite.

The two talked for a bit... well, Stephanie talked for a bit while Cassandra nodded and smiled. She enojyed the company, and Stephanie reminded her a little bit of herself. Except she had what passed for a normal childhood before she ran away from her father.

She met Stephanie a year ago in a homeless shelter, and they hit it off every since helping each other out whenever they could. They were both shoulders the other could cry on in many ways, and while Cassandra would never admit as much, she was the closest she's let any get to her in a long time.

A half-hour later, as police sirens wailed in the distance, Cassandra finished off the bear claw in her hand, then got to her feet. She bowed her head as a farewell greeting, and thus was quite suprised when Stephanie instead gave her a great big bear hug.

Cassandra wanted nothing more than to uncling from this warm moment of friendship. She finally gave up unlatching from Steph's grip, and timidly patted her hands on her friends back to return the hug. With an annoyed sigh.

"I know you don't have a lot to say, but the fact you don't mind that _I_ do means something."

Cassandra felt a tender twinge of emotion on that not. Against better judgement she leaned in a little more to reciprocate her friend's hug. She then patted Steph's shoulder and flung the bag of pastries back over her shoulder.

"Stay safe" Steph then hollared in a final parting for the evening, as Cassandra waved goodbye. She had a grin on her face as she turned away, for most parts she put on the tough girl act around Stephanie and still had a rep to keep. Even if the closest thing to a friend and sister had gotten to her.

Cassandra was alone again walking back to her rowhouse abode. The night was chilly for May, even in Gotham, as Cassandra returned down the street. She was deep in thought, as a newspaper blew by her, with the headline reading _"Neighborhood Congregation Leader Making Waves"  
_  
It was then as she made her way in between two storefronts, through a thin alleyway... a scream off in the distance grabbed Cassandra's attention. She dropped the bag of food over her shoulder and ran off into the night.

She ran faster than she'd ever has before as she hopped over parked cars and garbage cans. The stamina was unrelenting as she rushed her way back over to the underpass. Cassandra arrived just soon enough to see three uniformed police officers trying to calm Stephanie down.

"We're not trying to hurt ya, s'all right. Everything s'all right!" one tried to reassure her.

Another tipped her hat as she approached Stephanie, who was backed up against a wall. "We want to take you to a shelter, you look like you could use a nice place to stay for the night."

"No, no I'm fine. I... I just want go now..."

"Come on, dearie. We insist!" the third officer said as he bucked in front of Steph, blocking her from leaving.

Cassandra knew something was off, the british accents threw her off to start. But she read their body languages while leaning beside a parked car. The three "officiers" were not standing with authority, more like an intimidating posture one would have... scare tactics. They crowded around her as one reached for the pistol in his belt holster.

"Please, I just want to... NOOO! NOOOO!" Steph screamed as the female cop grabbed her by the arm and continued to reassure her with false pladities.

Cassandra saw the wolves in sheep's clothing, as they tried to drag her into the van they drove. You don't drag people by force into "homeless shelters".

Just as the third officer was about to strike Stephanie, one of the cops hollared "Watch-"

The baton-holding creep was belted right in the face by a kick from Cassandra, followed by a sweep off his feet with another kick. Stephanie screamed as she tried to break loose, but the female cop held her in a griplock.

"Assaulting an officer, huh!?" the cop with the gun snickered, "In for a world of hurt now, ya little street rat!"

Just as he was about to pull the trigger, Stephanie made a daring move and punched the cop holding her down with an elbow shot. She was knocked back, while clutching her nose, as Stephanie jumped up on the other cop. She struggled to grab the gun out of his hands, as Cassandra punched him in the gut. The gun went off as it slipped out of his hands. Cass then punched him square in the face and he keeled over.

"What the hell's wrong with these guys!?" Stephanie screamed in her paniced state, but Cassandra grabbed her hand as they both tried to run.

Steph however, was pulled back with a scream by the first officer as he grabbed her pretty yellow hair. Cassandra viciously turned back around and tried to attack again, this time with a lead pipe she grabbed off the ground.

But the second officer opened fire again, forcing Cassandra to duck on the other side of the overpass support. The bullets richoched off the metal beam as Cassandra tried to come up with a bright idea.

"Let's go! This brat's more trouble than she's worth!" the female officer yelled, bleeding out the nose, as they grabbed Stephanie's arms and threw her into the back of the van. Cassandra could only helplessly watch as her friend was tossed into the van by the three thugs masquerading as police officers. Before she could move an inch, the cop got a better weapon out of the back and began blasting away at her with an assault rifle.

Cassandra looked for any sort of firepower to fight back, at which point a rock caught her attention.

She picked it up then tossed it up in the air. Then with a mighty swung she turned the corner of the support beam and hit the rock straight out. By the time he started shooting again, she ducked back in. And just as she intended with the trajectory of the hit, the rock whalloped the creep right between the eyes and knocked him into the van. The other cops hauled him in and slammed the doors.

Cassandra tried to charge them, but they fired again at her with a pistol. She ducked this time behind another car, as its body and wheels were punctured by the bullets. The alarm went off in the air, causing many a dog to howl around them.

By the time she got back to her feet, the van was speeding away, down the block.

Cassandra clentched her teeth in a furious rage. They weren't getting away that easily.

She chased them on foot and out of sight to the end of the street, but as they made a sharp turn, she sped off in pursuit down an alleyway. Now neck and neck with them on the sidestreet beside them, she used great agility to leap a locked chainlink fence in her path, she couldn't let anything stop here.

She knew she was on their tail, the sound of the engine's turbines had a distinct enough rhythm to Cassandra's well trained ear.

Her pursuit down the back alleys brought another chainlink obstacle. With stunning agility, she parkoured across the sidewall of a building. A running jump up and over the fence, as she then tumbled back down to the ground. However, by the time she touched back down, her adrenaline was running ten times as fast. So were her trained senses. Enough that she realized the distinct engine of the van she pursued was no longer within range. It must have made a turn before she could cut it off.

She ran up the alley to the main street, it was just as she feared.

With no time to lose, Cassandra ran back down the alley and hurtled off her feet into the air. She caught the fire escape ladder with the tips of her feet as she launched up and over into the air.

Like an acrobat, she flipped onto her hands as she thrust the ladder down into position. She then did a back somersault as she landed feet first on the fire escape. Cassandra was short of breath by the time she raced up to the top of the metal girder escape. On the rooftop she ran to the edge to get a good look.

Looking in all directions, she sniffed the air for the distinct smell of diesel fuel emiting from the van, the smell of the exhaust. The wind was in her favor, as she picked up the van's whiff due west back toward the waterfront.

Despite better judgement, Cassandra took a deep breath, then from a running start a ways back, jumped off the rooftop and across the street. The forceful thrust through the air should never have worked. Yet Cassandra slammed into the roof of the building across the way.

With the momentum and adrenaline going, Cassandra jumped from rooftop to rooftop following the select smell of the van. She dodged satellite atennas and cables a plenty as she lept buildings in a single bound. Sorry.

They had to be close now, she could hear the engine once again as she neared the docks. Running out of rooftops, she took to her acrobatic skills once more and run along the power lines connecting the entire block. She ran over them with the greatest ease, she could put some of the Robins to shame with her agility.

Just then, as she stood atop on telephone poll to get a view, she spotted heard the clicking of the engine as it shut off. Cassandra turned to the direction of a warehouse along the docks. That was where they were.

She squinted her eyes to see if she could spot anything. A glimmer of red light seemed to shutter within the windows, like the taillights of the van. That was all the proof she needed, as she scuttled her way down the telephone poll, and landed on the ground below.

She pulled the knife out of her pants pocket, then made her way over to the warehouse.

Cassandra's heart was racing, short of breath and quite in a rage against these would-be abducters. She peered through the now shut doors of the warehouse, but within the corner of her eye she spotted the thugs. They were stripping out of the police uniforms and into regular clothes.

But there was no sign of Stephanie from where she was. Cassandra needed another way in, and fast.

With that in mind, she clutched the knife between her teeth, and climbed up the side of the warehouse. She crept onto the roof and made her way towards the nearest open window.

She skulked in like a trained killer without notice. She would have to restrain that instinct, even if Cassandra wanted to kill this vile repribates for what they've done.

She managed to climb down from the rafters, behind some crates. As the "officers" threw their uniforms in a pile and proceeded to burn it.

"But the boss told me to rent 'em!" one of the thugs lamented.

"Yeah, well say good bye to the insurance deposit" the female thug cackled, as she threw a match on the pile, after the other cop finished with pouring lighter fluid on the lot.

As the three watched the fire rise, they were quite shocked to see the fearsome face of the young woman they had just escaped... burst from it and armed with a hunting knife.

They gasped, as Cassandra drop kicked the man whining a moment earlier, knocking him to the ground.

"WHO IS THIS CHICK!?" the other thug cried out, as she slashed his hand before he could reach for his gun. She then punched him square in the jaw. Before the female thug could make a break for it, she was kicked in the nose once more and feel to her knees. Cassandra then held a knife to her throat and silently thrust her head up.

She looked dead into her eyes, cold and calculating... without a word. The female thug let out a light laugh.

"You're too late...heh heh heh" her thick British accent said between her teeth, as Cassandra looked up with a shock. The van they came in was empty. No sign of her friend, only a set of handcuffs and some assault rifles left over.

She released her grip on the woman's throat, in the swift process accidently ripping a band-aid off the back of her neck with the force. The thug was knocked to the ground as Cassandra ran to the van and searched every inch of the van. Nothing. She kicked the tire in a rage, then stared down the female thug as she twirled the knife in her hand and marched back over... ready to use it.

But before she could let her anger out on the woman, the thug got to her feet in a daze and held up her hands.

"Hey, hey, now I don't want any... ahhh... what the hell..." she screamed, now in a Baltimore accent, "How'd I-"

Cassandra belted her in the nose again with the butt of her knife as the woman keeled back over. It was then hanging off her belt, Cassandra noticd, a set of keys.

She swiped them and glanced them over. Nothing out of the ordinary, but she quickly determined they were not to keys to the wearhouse. A logo she'd seen before was on them. A heart shaped out of a cat and a dog.

Her eyes widened with the realization, more so... when she spotted a set of tracks that lead out of the back of the wearhouse.

She'd been careless not to see or hear the second van. But she followed the distinct tracks through the dirt and out the warehouse as far as she could. They disappeared off the docks and into the main road, heading west.

Cassandra knew she had no time to lose, especially now that she knew where this 2nd vehicle was heading.

In a vital moment of restraint, in her mind she knew what she needed most if she was going to rescue her friend.

Leaving the three thugs wrapped up like a christmas present for the police with telephone wires, while also slashing the tires of their vehicle, Cassandra raced off into night.

The three thugs were bleeding and disoriented, especially the woman of the group who acted as if she had lost a large amount of time.

Just when they figured things couldn't get worse, a shadow unfurled itself and began to approach them. It's pointed ears stretched across the floor of the warehouse as it came closer.

Back across town, Cassandra had used all her stamina and speed to race back the rowhouse she had spent the last few weeks in for shelter. She thought to hell with stealth, and kicked in the planks covering the doorway that she'd snuck through until now. Catching her breath for a second, and while trembling with each step toward a cabinet in what was left of the kitchen... she pulled out a large case.

She closed her eyes and with a deep breath, pulled out a long katana sword. She threw it over her shoulder and zipped up her jackie, pulling the hood over her head.

She stormed out of the house like a one-woman army, ready for anything Gotham City could throw at her.

**Gotham City  
May 27th, 2017  
10:04pm EDT**

In a clocktower clear on the otherside of town, was a safehouse of sorts with walls and walls of computer screens and equipment. A whole network of interocnnected feeds and links, a database and arsenal at the fingertips of one young woman.

Barbara Gordon, formerly known as Batgirl.

Now she worked from a safer locale in conjunction with the Justice League. The ORACLE network provided intel and updates to superheroes and vigilanted a like.

The wheelchair bound woman had closed her eyes for just a second, as terabytes of information were being de-coded.

Just then an important email came in, blinking and flashing enough alerts to get Barbara's attention. She rubbed her eyes and put her glasses back on.

Typing in a few codes to wake up the system, she logged in and took a glance at the email.

No name, a simple message saying _INVESTIGATING FURTHER, THOUGHT YOU'D BE INTERESTED_. Attached to it were crime scene photographs and readings. Three armed thugs, restrained and bloodied. Burned up uniforms, a stolen van, track marks of a possible second vehicle.  
_  
NEED ME TO CALL FOR_... Before Barbara could email him back, the minute she started typing she got a second email.

_DON'T NEED HELP_

"Bruce" she said, while shaking her head.

The Justice League barely sees their founding leader any more, ever since the Red Hood incident at Arkham Asylum two months ago. Even she and Dick barely caught glimpses of him out of the Batcave.

He was hiding down in there, drowning himself in casefiles and work to distract himself. Most times it was unreleated to the murders committed... by Jason.

She tried to reach out to him on Nightwing and Robin's behalf. But she was through trying to get the stubborn old man to handle his grief in the normal manner. Now she was the only one minding the store as it were, while everyone was on the Watchtower preparing to induct new members of the League, and of the Team.

"You usually don't send me your handiwork, so... someone else did this" Barbara realised as she analyzed the photos. She had a connection and a number for every known vigilante and Justice League member on the East Coast. If someone new was operating out of Gotham, someone with a ruthless streak.

While simultaneously trying to match the tire marks, she got a lock on the faces of the three. But something was off about them. The three thugs were known criminals and gangmembers. But they were also part of THREE SEPERATE GANGS. Rivals to boot, they'd never be working in business together... not unless the aliens were attacking Gotham City again.

Masquerading as cops, with handcuffs and restraints. An abduction by three bitter enemies, but no sign of their target. The second vehicle Barbara realized.

But as the image started to form on this baffling little puzzle, something else popped up from the attached files. A band-aid discarded on the ground. From one of the thugs, before they got their asses beaten by this new player.

"What is..." she squinted and leaned into the screen. She enhanced the picture and zoomed forward on the bloody band-aid. Something... microscopic, with a needle. It was a chip, of intricate design. Implanted into the thugs... when Barbara went over the photos again, the other two had band-aids at the base of their spines as well, on their necks like the girl of this rotten bunch.

A startling revelation formed in Barbara's mind at this ket point of evidence.

"Oh my god... not him."

**Gotham City  
May 27th, 2017  
10:16pm EDT**

The Gotham City Humane Society, the animal shelter left abandoned in the wake of the invasion from Apokolips. The caved in facility (that served the animal needs of the eastern district) now was under new management. The GCSPCA key, left by the goon back at the warehouse, meant as much.

Cassandra knew as such from the two armed sentries (hoodlums to say the least, of rival gangs) patrolling the outside, casually trying to hide they were armed and on watch duty. They could easily make the quiet neighborhood very loud, very fast.

She trapezed like on a tightrope across the remaining cable wires, onto the rooftop. As she did she spotted tiretracks in the mud. They matched the same patterns from the van that got away, Cassandra could make it out even from so far off the ground. She silently made it onto the roof, clutching the sword still in its sheath. With easy footsteps she approached a skylight and peeked down below. Her teeth gritted as she held back the rage boiling within her, at the sight below.

Young women of all shapes, sizes, and colors... in cages. Like animals. Gangbangers armed with heavy automatic rifles were the guards of this reprehensible make-shift prison. Cassandra could see the fear in all their eyes, as they remained locked up in kennels used prior for dog pens. Dirty, with bowls of food and water, and barely a pillow to sleep upon the stone floor.

Cassandra was starting to recognize a few familiar faces of those living on the street like herself and Stephanie. Scared and weak, these poor girls were likely to be sold off to who knows where. Her anger grew as she slowly looked around the compound, and failed to see Stephanie with the lot of imprisoned young women. If she had been shipped off by these fiends, so help them. No. No, she sensed it in her gut. Her friend was still here, still in danger either way,

Cassandra wasn't about to let this nightmare continue... not for any of them. And for the first time in four years, the accursed sword was drawn from Cassandra's sheath. She felt the strength return to her fingers as she clutched it with both hands.

She steeled her temperment, no room for rage or error with someone girls' lives on the line. Takedown the guards quick and precise.

But just as she readied to burst it and free the captured girls, a commotion was going on that caught her attention. Two ghastly looking thugs marched in pushed aside the guards. Cassandra knew something was up, as the made their way past the kennels. The two were bulky and balding, nearly impossible to tell the two gruff-looking blokes apart from each other. They effortlessly knocked one guard aside and into the cages, causing a few girls to jolt back. The scene was making others cower and cry.

Cassandra was going to make the lot of them pay.

The other armed henchmen tried to mindlessly stop the two twins, in almost unison... but the closest one rapped on the door at the end of the lab, the entrance to the main foray/adoption center at one point. Right next to the door was a mannequin, cloaked in a tattered bunch of black leather that was stitched together like the infamous cowl of the Batman. The stab marks meant someone was using it for practice.

The bulbous looking fiend groaned as he knocked once more on the door, with his twin standing right beside him.

"I told you mimsy imbeciles QUITE clearly, that I wish NOT to be disturbed!" a voice said from behind the door.

"Sorry, boss" the bald goon said in a cockney accent.

"Between you claudes, and the caterwallowing of those females... it's getting to where I can't have a moment's peace!"

"Again, apologies boss. It's Dee and me, Dee and me ya see. We has somethin important to tells ya"

"You THINK it's important enough to interupt me, do you?"

"Well... ya" he nervously replied

"When the muscle starts to think, it soon becomes time to **amputate**!" the persnickity British voice barked back from behind the door.

"It's dreadful sir. It simply cannot wait!"

"Ooohhh very well! Very well!" the voice said angrily and annoyed, as Cassandra watched carefully from the skylight above. The armed thugs all thrust themselves into position and froze like Buckinham guards. They didn't budge a inch, it was inhuman.

The two meatheads backed away, giving each looks as the door kicked outward. A thrush of mist from a fogmachine leaked out into the kennel area, along with green and blue strobe lights.

Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee folded their arms and stood at the ready, while trying to not look thier employer in the eyes as he strolled in a fiery tizzy. His mood was soured enough, but the bad news they carried wasn't gonna to help them.

Cassandra couldn't understand half of what was going on, as this yellow-toothed man with greasy grey hair commanded so much fear and respect. This short raggidy-man was clad in a green tattered suit, torn gloves, and a top hat larger than his neckless head. From above the hat covered his rat-like face, all but perhaps his portruding nose.

"Interrupting my tea party... huh-ho, this had BETTER BE GOOD!" the villainous little worm said with a pointed finger to his hired henchmen, as his caged captors backed away in terror at the sight of him.

Cassandra knew enough english from the Gotham news bulletins to recognize the this wretched man. Not enough to pronouce Jervis Tetch, but enough to silently say "M-meh-...Mad...Hat" as she bit her lip in anger.

The Mad Hatter was indeed the ringleader of this human trafficing operation.

**Gotham City  
May 27th, 2017  
10:35pm EDT  
**  
"Well?!" the yellow toothed-man hissed, as he poked Tweedle Dee in the gut. "Suddenly you two have nothing to say, ehh?!"

He paced around them like a vulture about to swoop down on its prey. For such a small man, Cassandra thought to herself, he instilled quite a bit of fear into his henchmen... especially the armed guards. The angry young woman noted the rest of his goons at attention, not even a flinch of emotion. Almost in a trance as they lined and waited in front of the cages racked with abducted girls.

"Ahhh...ya see Mr. Hat... SIR..." Dum stammered to speak.

"So the cat hasn't got your tongues... Well GOODY! Now out with you before I have to ask twice!" the Hatter cut back with a kick to the backside that pushed Dum over to the floor. Dee fearfully pulled his brother up to his feet.

"The three blokes we had dolled up like cops... they got pinched on that warehouse on the Eastside docks."

Jervis let out a small chuckle as he rubbed his chin, barely a chin really given his thick neck. "Is that all?" he sarcastically then said.

The Tweedles looked at each other suspiciously. "We figured it might be a problem, seeing as they could spill the beans on every-"

The Mad Hatter pulled Dee by the collar down to his height.

"You idiot! Those guttertrash hooligans won't be able to remember the last three weeks, let alone who was ordering them about! A safety procaution I installed, in case the microchips implanted in ther spines were taken off by force!"

"...Oh" Dee said with relief. "Forgot that I suppose, guess we're in the..."

Jervis knocked the bald bloke aside. "We're not out of the proverbial forest yet, dodobirds. Just HOW exactly were these Eastside wretches nabbed by the police... if I may boldy inquire?!"

"Ahhhh..." the Tweedles tapped their fingers like frightened children in the principal's office.

"Just as I feared... the BATMAN" Mad Hatter quivered at the thought of that flying rodent.

"We didn't think..." Dum tried to explain.

"If you didn't think, you SHOULDN'T SPEAK!"

The towering Tweedles coiled back. "Must be a slow week for him and his blasted Super Friends! No alien invaders to repell, if he manages to find the time to crackdown... on my petty operation!"

Cassandra watched the wormy little man engage his top henchmen on the roof, and from their violent conversation she knew it regarded her "interrogating" his other mind-controlled accomplices. They'd be moving out shortly, with all the girls in tow. But Cassandra wasn't about to let him get away with Stephanie or anyone else he's abducted off the streets of Gotham.

She knew this was the time to strike.

Cassandra drew her sword and crept in through the window on the roof, and down into the rafters... just like in the warehouse. Slowly and stealthly she snuck in, while the explosive and repugnant little man blasted away at his terrified minions. The rest of his mind-controlled gunmen didn't notice a thing either as she walked along the support beam, into the main part of the animal shelter.

"Should we move out, sir?" Dee nervously asked.

"There's that THINKING I was talking about from you claudes!"

Both the brothers flinched to duck a punch they thought was about to be thrown.

The Mad Hatter flung out his arm to instead... adjust the brim of his hat. His fingers caressed it, and the swift movement turned on a blinking digital light. An electronic band that circled around the top of his hat, that sent a signal to his brainwashed enforcers.

"Not quite yet chowderbrain. I want the girls and this entire facility packed and ready to go... we shall leave at dawn's first light. Heh-heh, our nocturnal friend may not have our scent just yet, but I think either way it would be a safer course to move in daylight."

"That makes sense" Dum acknowledged with a dumb look on hif face. Bot the Tweedles nodded in agreement, while Dee let out a gulp. "Sorry for interrupting your party, sir. We just..."

"Tut, tut, tut." The Mad Hatter patted his henchman's back. "All is forgiven this time. I may have been a little off the handle in my distemperment, but I do understand the haste at which you two wanted to deliever this news. Even if the rules did slip your minds, I thank you for that important update."

Dee and Dum sighed with relief.

"Just remember... if it slips your minds again, I'll have those street rats bash your skulls in!"

And just as quickly, the two gulped with fear.

"Yes, well... I can't keep my party guests waiting any longer. You two run along and make sure..."

Just then, the lights to the animal shelter shuttered and died. A few of the caged girls let out cries of panic.

"Quiet..." the Hatter raced over and slammed on the cages. "QUIEEET! Good little girls should remain seen... NOT HEARD!"

The girls cowered back, shrinking away in terror of their vile little abducter. He slinked back and adjusted his cuffs with this narrow intimidation of the young girls. He then turned his attention back to the brain-controlled goons at his beck and call, whilst they remained in pitch blackness.

"Will somebody find the blasted power breaker!?" Jervis screamed aloud to his mindless minions, "Honestly, I should order you worthless lot to go jump off the Kane Bridge! Least the thugs in the Western District are more capable than you miserable..."

Gunfire erupted down the hall. All eyes turned to the doorway leading to the rest of the shelter.

"What the-" Mad Hatter inched closer to the door, only to jolt back with more blasts of gunfire. As well as the yelling of his minions.

The gunfire was drawing louder, amidst the sounds of punches and fists thrown.

Someone was getting closer. Paniced cries for help were swiftly slinced by blunting and vicious strikes.

Jervis began to creep backwards, behind the Tweedles for cover. He feared who was behind the metal door, the unstoppable force of nature that was coming... for him.

The goons in the room slowly coverged on the door, their guns drawn and ready at the entrance-way.

"Well... what are you two waiting for?" Hatter beckoned his goons while cowering behind them like a schoolgirl.

The Tweedles exchanged a quick look. Then they looked at the door, then back to each other. The back to the door.

Dum raised his fist, as did Dee. Three shakes, and Dum hand a rock... Dee had scissors. Dum's dumb little smirk roused his brother Dee to punch him in the shoulder. The Mad Hatter slapped both of them upside the head before it could descend into one of their usual "battles".

"SAVE IT FOR HIM, YOU MORONS!"

A scream perferated the air as another guard was taken down, this time slammed into the other side of the door. The rest of Hatter's henchmen flinched a little, then retrained their guns on the door.

The twins then cautiouly approached the door, while Dum whipped out a pistol stuffed in the back of his pants. Dee then gave everyone of the brainwashed foot soldiers a look. Fear was creeping through their emotionless visages.

With a quick thrust, Dee flung the door open as they all proceeded to open fire into the darkened hallway. Amid the gunfire, the blasts illuminated the space for brief glimpses. Except for the guard lying unconcious on the floor... it was empty.

"Hold your fire!" the Hatter then screamed, as they all stopped shooting simulanteously. Dum, with his eyes closed, peaked his head out then opened them to no forseeable danger. Dee shined a flashlight and confirmed as much.

Dee stepped back with the light still pointed at the hallway. As he was about to turn to the baffled and befuddled Jervis, one of the mindcontrolled goons saw his unconcious comrade come to.

He gave him a hand and helped him back to his feet.

The Mad Hatter did a double take, "NO WAIT!".

As soon as he did, the guard was grabbed by the arm... by a figure that was hiding under the unconcious man on the floor. He was bashed upside the head and thrown into the darkened hallway with a scream.

The Tweedles and the goons opened fire again, but the figure disappeared in swift motion.

Panic filled the room of every man and woman carrying a gun. Especially for the Mad Hatter, as he looked in every darkened direction. The clanking of pipes, any small noise put the villains on edge.

One of the mindless enforcers fired off into the ceiling, frightening the girls and increasing the tension of the room. Especially since all he hit was air. He wiped his brow and tried to stay alert. As the Hatter stood between the Tweedles for protection, the gold-chained thug took an uneasy step backward...

When suddenly the grate on the floor ripped open. A pair of hands dragged him down as he screamed, disappearing into the drains with sound of fist against his ugly face. The rest of the goons, and the Tweedles, blasted the metal drainage. Nothing. Dee peeked down and say only the now unconcious minion.

"Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Bat..." The Mad Hatter mockingly sung, as he nervously looked around the room, "How I Wonder What You're At..."

"This can't be happening!" Dum nervously twitched as he took a machine gun off the dispatched guard from the other side of the door.

Before Dee could tell off his brother, the guard standing beside him was struck. A slash to the ankle that sent him screaming to floor... the work of a large katana. The figure wielding it then knocked him upside the head with the tip of the handle. Hatter caught a quick glimpse of the myserious swordsman, enough of _her_ face that is.

"Holy..." Dum screamed, as he tried to fill the sword wielder with lead. By the time his clip emptied, the hoodied figure had disappeared behind a set of crates.

"How is he doing this!?" Dee huffed in terror as he checked on the downed guard. Only two left now, plus the Hatter and the Tweedles.

"How is SHE, to be more precise." Jervis then corrected his bald lackey.

"She?!" Dum said with suprise.

"We have a Bat infestation, make no mistake... but it's a _Girl_ that's at work here."

"No one's seen her since the Joker's last prank, am I right?" Dee turned to his brother.

"I think so, though I can't recall she likewise had a sword before than."

"Didn't she also have..." Dum puzzled to himself aloud, "Red hair?!"

"I thought it was always black. Well dark auburn... ya'know brown"

"No, no. It was surely red."

"Contrariwise, Dum. I don't think-"

"WILL YOU TOO KNOCK IF OFF!" The hatter screamed, before his befuddled Tweedles could come to blows.

Speaking of blows, as the three argued amongst each other, a guard standing idly bye watched in instant horror as the tip of her gun was sliced clean off. She turned up to see the blade holder swing off the rafters like an Olympic gymnist. Kicked clean in the face and knocked out cold as the swordswoman stuck a hard landing in her gut. She then leaped over both the heads of the bald brothers, her hands grasped the tops of their skulls as she knocked them together.

They rubbed their brusied noses, but before the Tweedles could turn and fire, the hooded girl had her sword to the Mad Hatter's throat.

"Wait, wait you fools! Heh-heh, let's not be too hasty my dear!" Jervis tried to worm his way out of the situation, by Cassandra saw through his pacifying demeanor. She could see who he really was. Just by looking around the girls clammering up to the chainlink doors, of the cells he put them in.

"Who the devil are you then?"

Not a peep from Cassandra, just a death stare as she took the hoodie off her head, slowly as the Tweedles still were aimed at her.

"You've certainly been busy tonight. I assume I have you to think for the docks, as well as this rather violent scene with my minions, hmh? Now, what could I have possibly done to YOU... to deserve this kind of-"

Cassandra put the tip of her blade right up to his Jervis' large nostril before he could finish that sentance.

"Certainly not afraid to use that, hehheh... you're violent streak means you're definatly not one of the Batman's little brats!" Jervis was not as nervous as he should be, Cass read that in his expression. "Did the Black Mask send you, because I can assure him I still intended to give him his usual cut for tonight's shipment of-"

She viciously slashed at the cage door beside him, creating sparks as she flew into a rage, at the very idea of selling this young girls. With a quick movement, Cassandra know had the sword right at Jervis' throat, along with arm around it squeezing the little coward.

The Tweedles nervously tried to keep a lock on her head, without also shooting their employer.

"Easy now. Don't do anything you'll regret my dear!"

"S-s-...Steph-anie"

"Who?"

"STEPHANIE!" Cassandra yelled, with the blade's steel cutting in closer to the Hatter's throat. He bit his lip with a twinge of panic, until he glanced around at the young girls huddled up to the cage doors, then back to a steel door behind him. Near the shot up dummy of Batman.

"Ohh.. yes, I see. You've come for your _friend_. Curiouser and curioser..." a mischievous and evil grin crossed the Hatter's face. "Why didn't you just say so?! Your friend has been invited to a little party..."

The Hatter shot Dum a quick look, to which he then nodded with fiendish delight. He his brother dropped their guns and seemed to be surrending.

"Shoes, ships, cabbages and kings... oh we have many things to talk about! In fact, she'd be absolutely delighted if you'd join us!" he barked, as Cass tightened her grip around his throat. Cassandra would not have believed it herself then, as she watched the fat lumbering henchman lept off his feet... and bounced off the ground with tremendous force like a rubber ball.

In the air he curled like such a ball, richotched off the ceiling and slammed right into Cassandra. The Hatter wriggled his way out of Cassandra's grip as they ot to their feet of the ground. Only for Dee to join in and bounce off the cages and straight down into her with a piledrive. The sword fell out of her hands, but the worst part was this powerful blow felt like an elephant stomping on her.

Cassandra let out a gasp for air as she crawled to her feet, with the pain of being barely able to breath after those last two assaults. Before she could react, giving a venemous look to the smiling Jervis, she was grabbed by the arms and hauled up to her toes. Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee proceeded to punch her repeatedly in the gut as they cackled.

"Let's not be so rough, boys!" The Hatter waved them off with a hand as Cassandra struggled to break free from the grip, as Jervis crept closer with an impish and self-righteous grin on his face.

"Mad...heh heh... you have to be positivly Mad as a March Hare, to think you can watch wits with me, girlie!"

Cassandra tried to kick and bite her way out, the Tweedles grip was too strong. But then in the corner of her eye, she saw the two take their free hands and proceed to cover their eyes.

"No matter..." he said as he grabbed something out of his coat pocket. He held her sword with the ragged gloved right hand, all with with his left he searched around for something in his pocket. A gold watch on a chain, which he opened right in front of her face with the press of a button.

"WE'RE ALL MAD HERE!"

A flash of green lights blinded Cassandra, while her retinas were blasted by a series of blinking little lights... green... red... green... green... yellow... red... red...

The room began to spin, it felt like it was dissolving all around her. The blinking lights turned into a spiraling daze of technicolors.

"TIME TO TEACH YOU SOME MANNERS, YOU VICIOUS LITTLE BRAT!" the Mad Hatter's voice cackled, as he disappeared right in front of her. Cassandra was released from the Tweedle's grip, but she could barely stand as she fumbled and punched at the air. She turned around only to see the Tweedles morph into monstrous and contorted shapes. They oozed into a single purple ball. The walls around her collapsed into nothingness, the ceiling fell around her, as Cassandra ducked the debris, which hit the floor and turned into whiffs of smoke. The ball began to roll towards her. Ready to crush her.

Cassandra tried to run but her feet sank right through the floor, like cracks in thin ice. She feel backwards as she plunged into the stone floor, with the Tweedles tumbling ever closer to her. But when her body hit the floor, it collapsed in on itself and turned into playing cards. She fell and fell through the air, the cards tumbling and turning alongside her.

Cassandra struggled to grip anything to stop her fall, as the bright lights continued to daze her, while the whole world seemed shake the booming tic of a clock. It pained her ears as much as her chest, hard to breath as she was falling for what seemed like forever.

Eventually by the tips of her fingers, Cassandra caught the edge of the one of the playing cards. She reached up and tried to climb on, only to meet eye to eye with the Mad Hatter. His eyes were as bright yellow as teeth, as he grinned from ear to ear.

"Don't fret, my dear... you're not crazy..."

He stomped down on her fingers with his spat-covered shoes.

"MY REALITY IS JUST DIFFERENT FROM YOURS!"

The Hatter cackled as he stomped at her fingers until they turned red, Cassandra refused to let go. She tried to continue pulling herself up, until she looked in horror at the Mad Hatter... now armed with a giant axe.

"Now, now... how late it's getting. MUSN'T MISS AN IMPORTANT DATE, MUSN'T BE LAAATE!"

He swung the axe, as Cassandra let go, just missing the blade's edge from cutting off her fingers. She as if weights were chained to her legs, tumbling and falling into nothingness... down, down the rabbit hole she fell.

The voices around her were cackling, like being in an insane asylum. So distracted, she didn't even realize she hit the bottom. Like landing on a pillow. She opened her eyes in a daze, her heart was racing just as fast and loud as that damn clock.

She staggered to her feet now, looking all around for someone... anyone. Giant mirrors covered the room, as it seemed to spin around Cassandra. Her head was killing her as much as her chest.

The reflections in the looking glasses were monstrous and distorted, tall and short, wide and thin. Like ten thousand twisted eyes looking back at her. She closed her eyes and blocked her ears as the clock beat tinkered on, louder and louder.

"LATE, LATE, LATE... MUSN'T BE LATE FOR A VERY IMPORTANT DATE! HA HA HAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!"

Suddenly, with but a single peak she saw one undistorted reflection. Something about this one called to her, she was compelled to approach it. Cassandra slowly did. It looked like her and was undistorted... and yet Cassandra was taller. Older even, yet elegant and beautiful. But also lethal, from the cold eyes of this short-haired woman.

Cassandra touched the looking glass, as did her reflection. Their hands met, and the older woman let out a faint smile. The thought crossed her mind, as it has done in the past regarding her parentage. Could this... be her mother?

Before she could get an answer, another figure appeared in the looking glass reflection. An insidious looker caterpillar with razor-sharp tendrils. Before Cassandra could turn around, it entangled her feet. A sharp pain struck the base of her neck as fell forward from the Caterpillar's bite. She fell right through the looking glass, tearing through it like a balloon as it wrapped around her face, making it difficult to breath.

She burst through the mirror and found a madhouse on the other side. A dark forest with a winding path, cackling laughs and grinning teeth attached to no body. Cassandra did the only thing she could... she ran and ran. She ran until her feet were raw and sore, though she couldn't tell where she was going, as it felt like a bag was over her head, blinding her path. A giant Dodo stopped her in her tracks and tried to gobble her up. Cassandra ducked his monstrous beak and dodged his talons as she continued onward.

Through the trees she could see a figure. Her mother. She ran towards her amidst the screetching of carrion beasts. A murder of strange looking birds flew all around her as she raced after her mother, who glew as white as the rabbit of the accursed story she was trapped in.

"WHERE WILL YOU GO, MY DEAR? WHERE WILL YOOOU GOOOO?! HA HA HA HAAA! DEPENDS ON WHERE YOU END UP!"

When Cassandra finally caught up to her in a purple-colored clearing of open grass... she grabbed the woman's shoulder. But then a hand grabbed her back, but it was not a woman's. She saw her father turn around and greet her instead. With the same rage-filled face that she knew him best with. She jumped back in terror as her father approached her, his fists clentched. The sense of something smother her face returned, as it tightened with pain as if it snych with her father's closing steps toward her.

She ran away from in fear, as the feeling crept back into her mind and took shape all around her. Like the little girl living in fear of her father's shadow. The forest returned to darkness as she ran and ran, trying to escape her father's wrath. She looked behind her, only to see her father morph into a winged demon. His neck elongated and fangs ripped out of his face along with a pair of batwings. A Jabberwocky if she ever saw one. It lept into the air and gave chase with a monstrous roar.

Cassandra tripped on a limb and tossed into the air. She fell back to earth, only to roll down a steep hill, bumpy and jagged with rocks.

By the time she reached the bottom, her father's roars were off in the distance. She had escaped him for now. But Cassandra's blood pressure was through the roof as her heart raced. The clockwork ticking of that pocket watch returned louder than ever. Cassandra was on all fours trying to catch her breath, to calm her mind as it raced with wild and frantic images, now as vivid as this nightmare she was trapped in. The ground on which she sat was checkboard like a chess game.

At her feet was a puddle of water, without haste she drank from it with her hands, splashed a little on her face to calm down. But after a few seconds, Cassandra felt something was wrong. She spit it out, but it wasn't posionous (she could detect that). Instead it was tea, a puddle of tea in the ground. She also saw her reflection in the puddle. Her face covered in fur and she had two elongated ears coming out of her head. She recoiled in terror at the sight of this hideous visage, showing off a pair of bucktoothed fangs, like a rabbit.

The sheer shock of this sight snapped Cassandra momentarily back to reality. In a series of green and red flashes, the puddle became a mirror... and her face was not a rabbit. She was cloaked in a poorly stitched mask, like that of Batman's but with pointier ears. She felt her face to feel only cloth, not fur, as her breathing calmed ever more.

"T'was brillig, and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wabe..." The Hatter's voice fiendishly echoed, "All mimsy were the borogroves. And the mome raths OUTGRABE!"

His cackle fileld her with rage. But then a pain in the back of her neck shifted her quite vividly back into the nightmare. She stumbled to her feet as she twisted and turned in every direction. Her feet and body moved, but not by her control... she looked down to see feet walking backwards, even though she saw herself moving forwards. She had lost control of her body it seemed, a terrifying experience.

She moved through a series of doors that got smaller and smaller, as it seemed so did she, until finally a small crack of light guided her way through the endless doors. Her hand stretched out without her control or say in the matter, before her eyes was the sword she thought was lost. It was clutched by her hands, but then like glue refused to yield the blade in front of her. It drew her into the doors like a magnet, all while her feet pushed on.

Cassandra fought and tried to escape whatever force was moving her. She looked backwards to see her mother off in the distance, disappearing beyond the horizon. Miniscule now to the size she started out as, her feet carried her through the very keyhole that bellowed open like a mouth. On the otherside the blinding light gave way to the series of red and green... red... green... green... red... yellow... red... red...

Cassandra's eyes burst open with a gasp of air.

With a daze of colors that snapped her back to reality, the booming clockwork dissapated for a barely noisy tempo on the otherside of the room. Cassandra tried to move, but her hands and feet refused to acknowledge her, as she saw her sword clutched in her palms. She was seated at a long table, covered in smashed teacups and other chinaware.

She was dizzy and out of breath, but she could make out the shape of the the Hatter's giant habidash. She tried to lunge at him, but her body refused to move despite her mind commanding it. Her mind wasn't in control anymore, the Hatter's was.

"Why don't you have a cup of tea to calm your nerves, my dear. You look a girl who enjoys a spot of Jasmine, eh?"

Cassandra didn't say a word, she only gave a deathly glare back to the Hatter, as he sat at the other end of this red-tinted dining room.

"Not a conversationalist." he spat, as he sipped his own fractured cup. "In any event, you've had a busy evening. I must admit it was quite an enjoyable spectacle for me and my droogs, watching you fumble and mantically try to escape... trapped in your own private Wonderland, hehhehhehheh!"

Cassandra swore she'd never kill again, but the Hatter was pushing her too far. She tried to take the sword out of its sheath, but her fingers wouldn't budge.

"No point struggling, I placed a chip at the base of your spine while you were under my little spell. Now I have full control over you, as much as I do those lapdogs out there" he pointed to the other side of the steel door. "Must be a frightful thing, to know see and hear, experience everything and nothing at the same time. To watch your body do anything I ask it... while your mind is trapped and screamed, as if buried alive!"

She wanted to smack the loathsome smile off his face.

"I know you're wondering how I did it. I could tell you how my hypnosis worked to create that vivid dream of ... oh, but then explainations take such a dredful time. Time you don't have..." he swung his pocket watch around on his finger as he sat back in his seat, a cup of tea in the other hand.

"It was fun, I must admit. Even if you;ve been a rude party guest." The Hatter delicatly placed the teacup down on the table as he stood up. "Alice and I are off, you see... after we take care of unfinished business. My droogs will dispose of the rest of those girls, that lot would have barely fetched me a penny anway. Likewise for you... this game has come to an end!"

Cassandra looked in confusion at the table, around the room. But then with shock, she spotted a girl seated at the other side of the table, next ot Jervis. Blonde-haired and in a trance, with a bow in her hair.

It was Stephanie!

Locked away in a similar psychadelic daze like she was, Cassandra struggled to free herself from this mental hold the Hatter had her under. She tried to reach out to her friend.

"It was a valiant effort, but you just weren't good enough!" the Hatter said as he moved towards her, arming himself with a large knife he had been using to cut bread on the table.

Cassandra was impassable, immovable as the Hatter crept closer to her with the knife in his hand. If her fac weren't immobilzed by the chip in her spine, and covered by the bat mask... it would be drenched with fear.

"The Mad Hatter reigns supreme here... no street rat with a sword is going to best me! I've spent too many a night trying to find her again, you'll not take Alice away from me!"

As he lifted the knife in his hand over his shoulder, ready to plunge it into her, gunfire went off behind the steel door.

Jervis turned around in panic, a twinge of terror now crept back upon his brow. Cassandra's eyes shifted to the noise, as more gunfire and screaming ripped through the animal shelter. A banging could be heard as if something pounded against it.

The strength of these knocked the very hinges off the metal door, as it flew open with a smash. Laying on top of it was Tweedle Dee, unconcious and bruised. Not far behind him, flying through the air over him was Tweedle Dum. As if thrown through, the fat henchman bounced and richotched off a side wall and crashed into the table top.

"You've gone too far, Jervis" a gravly voice said, sending chills down the Mad Hatter's spine. He recoiled as a fearsome figure approached.

Cassandra watched as the figure stepped through the doorway, cloaked in shadows. He stomped right down on Dee's massive gut as he crossed the threshold. She knew immedialty who it was based on the fearsome presense... but mostly because of the ears.

_**BATMAN**_

"I knew you'd be up to your old tricks, after escaping from Arkham... BUT THIS!?"

He barely passed through, before four of the Hatter's mindcontrolled thugs tried to jump him. Cassandra watched in awe at the other end of the table, as he effortlessly fought the lot of them off in close combat. Punches and kicks blocked with ease as the Bat threw one over his shoulder and pummeled the rest with precision strikes.

Her mask hid her eyes, but behind it they were fixated and amazed at the sight she was beholding.

The form by which he faught with so efficiantly. Krav Maga, Savate, Jujitsu, Shotokan... all types of fighting styles blended into one ruthless individual. One, as Cassandra saw, that was ruthless yet in control. This Batman knew where to strike, but also to respect the life of his opponent. Cassandra herself would have easily killed any number of these criminals, mind controlled or not, because of her rage.

Batman had bottled his anger and fueled instead for lethal agility. He wiped the floor with the hapless thugs, taking them all on at once... and beating them almost instantly with precision. The clockwork nightmare still in her system... illusions of the Batman shifting between reality, and a monstrous Jabborwocky took place before Cass's eyes. It was a terrifying sight, but Cassandra was not afraid of THIS demon.

Returning to reality after several flashs back to Wodnerland, the Batman finished with the thugs. He didn't even bat an eye as he turned then and continued to approach Jervis Tetch. His stern visage cold and palpable with stoic anger.

The Hatter dropped the knife and quickly threw up his hands, a nervous smile crossed his face.

"Easy does it! Can't we talk this over, heh heh?" his miniscule laugh only made the Batman crack his knuckles even louder as he approached the twisted little man.

"Barely a month out, not only weren't you smart enought to leave Gotham... but you've fallen back into your Alice fixation." He then pointed a blistering finger at Alice, "Just how far down have you fallen this time, to justify abducting innocent young girls, Jervis!?"

"I can't exactly explain myself... I'm not myself you see!" he innocently tried to say while twiddling his fingers. "It started as a search and rescue, but then as those idiots kept bringing me the wrong girls... a business opportunity sprang up over night!" Explaining and twiddling away... a distraction while Tweedle Dee rose slowly to his feet with a growl. The fat dope charged the Batman, as Cassandra silently struggled to warn him. Batman didn't even glance behind him... he simply punched Tweedle Dee square in the face without a second glance.

The nincompoop fell flat to the floor as a Batarang ripped out his utility belt. Batman threw it into the table, piercing it as Batman's shadow loomed over Jervis.

"I'm not in the mood for your games, Hatter! You've become a child-abducting sadist!" Batman pointed to Stephanie, still in a daze and sitting at the table with her teacup. "And I have no small measure of sympathy... or MERCY for men like that!"

Jervis was truely scared now, the Bat never threatened him like this. But as the Batman stepped closer, Tetch just smiled away, much to Cassandra's disdain as she strained every muscle trying to move.

"Sticks and stones, Batman! As for games... you can be assured I'm all out of party favors this evening." He waved his hand to the assorted goons and Tweedles the Bat had made short work of.

"As for the March Hare, however..." he then said as he tipped his trim and activated his hat.

A surge of energy filled Cassandra's mind and body, as a signal was sent to her by the Hatter's mental controls. Batman could barely react as the figure he assumed was a dummy... jumped up on the table with a sword that was quickly unsheathed.

Cassandra was on a passenger in her body, as it flung and slashed away at the Batman himself. He narrowly missed the blade's attack, as his gauntlets caught the brunt of the sword's strikes. The Hatter laughed and cackled as Cassandra helplessly attacked the Batman.

He was restrained enough to realize this masked girl was under Jervis' malicious control. Sparks flew with each strike of the blade, each time aimed right for his head and neck.

Cassandra tried to scream out, or say something, but her lips were sealed as he arms and legs slashed apart the tabletop and chairs while dueling with the Batman.

A moment passed between them, their cold eyes met as Cassandra assumed a warrior's stance. Through the mask, Batman read Cassandra just as easily as she could read others. But from her dilated pupils the Batman saw something in her... a glimmer. Like having someone read right into your soul.

"One... Two, One... Two" the Hatter jested while clapping his hands in merriment, "Her Vorpal blade cuts better than mine, ha ha!"

Another slash from Cassandra, as she struggled to regain control. The Bat could sense it as he kicked her aside. She tumbled on the ground and back to her feet in a cartwheel, lunging at the fabled Dark Knight once again.

But this time, after another parry of blocking the blade's attacks... she struck him with a vicious slash in the chest. Batman let out a groan as he feel to his knees, clutching his chest.

"Oh frabjous day! Callou, Callay!" the Hatter squeed with giddy joy. His swordswinging minion had seemingly done the impossible. Even Cassandra could barely believe what her hands had down, as the Batman now lay at her mercy.

"Now let the Vorpal blade go... SNICKER SNAK!" The Hatter said as Cassandra's sword stayed at Batman's neck. She stood idly behind him, ready to behead him at the Hatter's order. She was screaming and raging at the inside, trying to fight back and stop this madness from going any further.

"Bring me that cowl, my dear!" Jervis then said with a snap of his fingers as he stood at a distance.

Cassandra eyes bubbled with intensity, her muscles raged as she tried with all her might... to refuse what the Hatter's brain was telling her arms to do. She raised the sword over her shoulder, as the defeated Batman sat there. It was almost like he... like he wasn't trying.

He wouldn't. He couldn't, Cassandra thought to herself. He gave her only a stoic look, not of defeat or pain like a moment ago. HE WANTED HER TO TRY AND LOB HIS HEAD OFF!

Her brain was wracked with trembling intensity, as her arms unleashed themselves and swung the sword. Jervis ripped and rooted... until he looked on with a gasp.

Cassandra had stayed her blade.

She was inches from his neck, but she hadn't carried out the Hatter's order to kill the Batman.

"What are you waiting for!? DO IT!"

Cassandra arms and fingers would move no further, she felt like her brain was going to explode. By let go using her strength to resist the Hatter's control... and just let her body do it for her. The Batman knew that even under mind control... that this girl would refuse to kill.

Her body was fighting back when her own mind couldn't, if by a deeper subconcious motion.

"I SAID KILL HIM, YOU IMPUDENT BRAT!"

The muscles of her arms were now back in her command, as she held tight and returned them to her chest. All while the rest of her body remained dormant like a statue.

"THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!" Jervis screamed.

"You of all people should know" Batman non-chalantly said, "NOTHING is impossible."

If it were anyone else, he'd have cracked a grin on that note.

The Hatter watched in horror, as Cassandra levied her sword to her side and firmly used every fiber of her energy to refuse his command. Batman slowly got to his feet, his little gambit having worked. It suprised even Cassandra, given that he'd known this strangely dressed girl all but three minutes.

"YOU WRETCHED CHILD!"

The flashes to her Wonderland nightmare returned, shifting between reality and the illusions created by the Hatter.

"I GAVE YOU... A BLOODY ORDER!" he hollared, but to Cassandra he shifted between another form. She changed into someone a lot more menacing right before her eyes.

"NOW DO AS I COMMAND" the Hatter's voice barked, coming out of the mouth of her father David Cain "BEFORE I DECIDE TO KILL THE BOTH OF YOU, TO RID ME OF YOUR STUPIDITY!"

This was the final mental straw for Cassandra. If it weren't for the stitched up mask, Jervis would have gotten the most intense face that even the Batman could muster. Like lifting pounds of sandbags, Cassandra used her strength to lift her right arm.

Jervis' snarl disappeared in a flash, as watched in awe at Cassandra resisting his mental hold even further. He tipped his hat and sent as much energy into her spinal chip as he could... but it only seemed to intensify Cassandra's rage even greater, furthering her resolve to do... the impossible.

She reached the back of her neck and ripped the bandaid under mask clean off. Hatter let out a gasp. A static spark let out from the overload, as Cassandra let out a scream, muffled by the mask but still ear-piercing. it wasn't pain, so much as a scream of agonizing relief... she was finally free of a waking coma that trapped her in her own body.

In a glare now worthy of Batman, Cassandra was finalyl able to turn her head, all while crushing the microchip in her hand that had made her Jervis' slave.

"No, no, no, nooo... NO ONE'S WILL IS STRONG ENOUGH TO DEFY ME!"

From the Hatter's sleeve, a small pistol zipped out from a trip mechanism. He shot Cassandra right in the shoulder in a blind rage against the girl. Batman whipped another batarang at the Hatter that slashed the gun out of his gloved hands... but to the Bat's suprise and Jervis' horror, Cassandra stood there unfazed. She didn't flinch or scream after being shot. She only looked down at the wound, then back at Jervis. Stoically, SHE WAS NOT AMUSED.

With all the returned strength to her arms, she lifted the sword in her hand and flung it into the air. Jervis screamed like a little girl as the katana blade hurled at him like a javelin. He tried to duck for cover behind the seat, but by the time he did the blade had pierced its target.

It went straight through his hat and knocked it off his head. The blade pierced into the wall behind him as the hat crackled with dying electronics.

"What have you done!?" the Hatter yelled, pulling at his hair in frustration. He turned around to see that "Alice" was beginning to come too, as Stephanie's retinas returned to normal. She came out of her daze, and ripped the bow off her head as she found it hard to breath... after being at the Hatter's sick mercy.

In the next room, the goons and thugs coming too recieved a similar reaction, awakening from the trance of the Mad Hatter. Destroying his hat destroyed the signal link that Jervis had over all their minds. They remembered... EVERYTHING. The various gangmembers came to their feet, only to see young women locked up in cages like animals. Even for criminals, they looked around in disgust, as the frightened girls pleaded for help. One thug then did what the others were thinking (with newly liberated minds)... he took out the keys he found in his pocket and started to unlock the doors. They were scared at first, but the shamed young man gave them a hand and helped them out. The other thugs followed suit and started to free the imprisoned girls Jervis was likely to sell or kill without remorse.

Jervis heard the pistol shot, and saw the four thugs coming to in his party room. His first instinct was to run... but before he could he turned to see the chest-emblem of the Batman. The Dark Knight lifted the scrawny little man up by his collar and flung his across the room. While he then proceeded to pound and punch away at Tetch, Cassandra hurried over to the other side of the table, still bleeding out the shoulder but unfazed.

Amidst the sounds of a brutal smackdown by the Bat, Cassandra leaned down to her friend. Still a little uneasy and dazed from the Hatter's control, Stephanie was groggy as her sight returned. She turned to see the terrifying "bat-mask" adorned by the swordswoman. She nearly jumped out of her seat, before Cassandra calmed her with a hand to her shoulder. She slowly removed the mask draped over her head.

With the grim bat having disappeared, Stephanie was startled with... joy, to see the stoic face of her nameless friend.

"Thank you! Thank you" Steph said with tears rolling down her eyes. Cassandra attempted to smile, but was cut off by Stephanie bringing her in for a tight hug. The stoic Cass patted her back to reciprocate as warmly as she could.

"Okay..." Cassandra whispered back in one of the few words she's ever said to Steph, "It... Okay"

The tender moment was interrupted by the Hatter's wailing, as Batman lefted him like a deadweight over his head and threw him right out the doorway.

Smashed down into one of the sides of the kennels, he feel backwards onto his back. But before Jervis could catch his breath, he looked up to see a rather unhappy lot staring back down at him. The thugs and the girls all hovering over... a mob in need of a rope to lynch him with.

"Guttertrash, huh?" one of the hooligans said, now wielding a metal pipe in his hands. Revenge was about to served stone cold to Jervis Tetch. He squrimed back to his feet as the assembled group of abductees readied to rush him.

"Let's not let violence rule the day, now..." he sheepishly said, trying to calm them. A wave of angry faces closed him into a corner. Until they backed up at the sight of the Batman entering the room, silent and stoic as ever.

The grovelling Mad Hatter plopped down to his knees and grabbed Batman by the cape for safety.

"I'D LIKE TO GO TO JAIL NOW, PLEASE!" he begged. Batman remained silent. His head did turn to two individuals standing right beside him. Jervis turned his head to see Cassandra and Stephanie Brown, no happier than the lot out to kill him on the other side of the room.

"No... problem" Cassandra said with a heavy sigh.

"Here's one for the road!" Stephanie said, as she smashed a teapot in her grip upside his balding head.

The Hatter was whipped back to the floor by that blow, now lying groggy and unconcious as the rest of the group stared one. The abductees hoped they could get a few rounds with him before the police arrived. This would have to suffice.

Still wielding the broken handle, Stephanie enjoyed that attack a little too much. She turned around to see Batman squint his eyes with a glare. She sheepishly dropped china.

"Sorry... I kinda got a little carried a-" she turned to Cassandra, who could only shrug her friend a job well doen... sorta.

"It's, ahhhh, its just this is the second time I've been abducted... not exactly a good year for me."

She turned to see some of the dishelved girls giving her odd looks.

"Aliens... last time it was" she innocently explained about the last occurance. But her attention turned back to Cassandra, as her friend tried to clutch for the wall in a daze.

"Oh, god! Help her!" Stephanie tried to catch her, but Cassandra fell to the floor as everyone rushed over to help. She was starting to lose conciousness from the blood loss of the gunshot (and internal bleeding from the Tweedles). The last sight she saw before fading into black was that of the Batman, hovering over her and applying pressure to her shoulder.

When the police arrived on the scene ten minutes later, Harvey Bullock was nearly run off the road by the Batmobile as it sped off down the block with its jet engine on full blast.

The detective stepped out of the squad car as the sirens flared, he was covered in hot coffee after stepping on the breaks.

"Sure, thanks for the help! Ya crazy long-underweared-" the grouchy detective grumbled to himself as he and the others officers burst into the abandoned animal shelter. While taking care of the mess that was inside, Stephanie raced out to the middle of the street, as the Batmobile disappeared form sight. She clutched Cassandra's sword in her hand, while she closed her eyes and prayed her friend would survive the seemingly fatal wound. In the arms of the Dark Knight himself... she figured she had a good chance.

Later that night, as emergency services got all the girls to safety and the police got the on-the-spot testimonies of the Hatter's former minions, Jervis himself was in the back of an ambulance heading back to Arkham Asylum. After what he's been up to, he'd be dead meat in Gotham General.

The Mad Hatter was strapped into a gurney with a large bandage on his head, bleeding out through the wrapping. He let out a groan as he started to come to, but the orderly was not too thrilled.

"Don't worry, ya buck-toothed freak. You'll back in your nice cozy padded cell in no ti-"

Just then the orderly convulsed in a full body shake, while choking and hacking. Jervis was barely awake to comprehend what was happening, he only yelled incoherently to the driver for help.  
_  
"Assuming Direct.."_ the orderly mumbled, as he continued to deteriorate and Jervis paniced even more and screamed louder.

But the ambulance grinded to a sudden halt, shaking the back of the vehicle and knocking over medical supplies. The driver stopped the ambulance right in the middle of the road, on an abandoned stretch of highway outside the city limits. Just a few miles left to Arkham Asylum.

The driver, looking as if he was in a trance, then passed out and slumped over the wheel.

The Mad Hatter continued to helpless scream for help, while trying to break free from the straps binding him down.  
**  
"SAVE YOUR STRENGTH, MR. TETCH! STRUGGLING WILL DO YOU NO GOOD!"** the orderly said, with his head slumped down and his arms lingering motionless like dead limbs.

"What-what what's happening? What do you think you people are doing!? I have right you-"

**"RIGHTS? I AM NOT BOUND TO MAN'S LAWS, BUT YOU WERE BOUND TO MY **_**ORDERS**_**..."** the orderly replied with a hiss. Jervis was qute confused by the fact that the middle-aged ME was now speaking with a sophisticated (all be it sinister) British accent.  
**  
"YOU JEPORDIZED MY OPERATION IN GOTHAM, YOU THREATENED THE SAFETY OF MY CONGREGATION... BECAUSE YOU COULDN'T KEEP IT IN YOUR PANTS AS YOU WERE **_**TOLD TO DO**_**!"**

"Oh dear" the Hatter said to aloud with a twinge of terror, "You're the one I was sending the girls to!?"

Jervis needed someone in the Gotham underworld scummy enough to buy trafficked young girls he discarded, in his mission to find "Alice". He didn't ask questions about what this bunch wanted with them, maybe he should have asked a few in regards to his mysterious partner.  
**  
"INDEED, MR. TETCH... AND THANKS TO YOU I'M NOW FORCED TO FIND AN ALTERNATE MEANS OF PROCURING... VOLUNTEERS"**

"How are you doing this?!"

"YOUR MIND CONTROLLING TECHNOLOGY PALES IN COMPARISON TO

_**MY**_** ABILITIES." **the orderly declared in the disturbing voice. A dummy to a more powerful puppetmaster.

"What are you going to do to me?"  
**  
"I WOULD SERVE YOUR HEAD ON A PLATTER LIKE THE RED QUEEN, BUT THAT WOULD BE GETTING OFF **_**TOO**_** EASY."** the orderly's head popped up, showing off milky white eyes and a nosebleed as this telepath continued on. **"I'LL HAVE TO FIND SOME OTHER USE FOR YOUR SKILLS IN MY GRAND DESIGN... SOME SUFFICIENT WAY TO PAY OFF YOUR DEBT!"**

"Who are you?" the Hatter lisped through his grimy yellow teeth. The orderly and his inhuman eyes leaned in to Jervis' face, with a monstrous smile wider than the Cheshire's  
**  
"YOU MAY CALL ME... **_**BROTHER BLOOD**_**"**

**Gotham City  
May 28th, 2017  
12:16pm EDT**

When Cassandra opened her eyes again, it was to the screetching of bats. There were dozens of them overhead, hanging off the ceiling... it was lined with stalagmites. It almost like some, some kind of

"OW!" Cassandra yelled with a burst, as she hiked straight up. She was on a surgical table of sorts... with cushions. She clutched her shoulder, still red from the wound but now looking better than where she left it.

"Apologies, madam" a older gentleman standing right next her then said, holding a cottonswab in his hands. "I was only applying antibiotics. Nasty wound indeed for such a small caliber..."

He tossed the swab away and took a cloth next to him to clean his hands. Cassandra tried to get up, but the grey-haired gentleman trie to stop her with a firm hand.

"I strongly recommend you rest a little while longer. We took out the bullet, but you lost quite a lot of blood."

She sighed as she leaned back in. In a quick study around this large cavern she made out high-tech equipment and lights that should NOT have been in there. It was then that her eye caught out a display case in the back... filled with costumes she knew all too well from the news.

Robin. Nightwing. The Dark Knight... whose case was empty.

She looked on in awe, then back to the steady hand of the older man putting a tight bandage across her shoulder and chest. She realized she was only in her undergarments at this point.

"Apologies. You've been out for a few good hours you see. We mended some fractured ribs and that wicked little suprise from Mr. Hatter"

As she was mended too, she took a quick study of the man. Regaining her strength she feebly asked him in broken english... "Who-who are..."

With a stoic look on his face he replied, "I'm Batman."

She raised a demused eyebrow as sceptisim crossed her face.

"One of these days someone's going to fall for that." Alfred mused to himself.

Cassandra shook her head in subtle humor. But despite his efforts, she climbed back to her feet. Grasping the wound she took a look around the Batcave.

"Oh dear, I must insist you..." but she ignored his warnings as she hopped along barefoot through the complex. She passed by the Batmobile as it was parked, letting out a whistle as she felt the black armor siding.

"Or go ahead and ignore my better judgement." Alfred then gave up as he took up the tray of medical supplies with both hands.  
"She'll fit in quite well here"

As he walked away up the stairs, Cassandra was drawn down further into the cave, where she saw a massive computer array on the edge of a cliffside.

Slowly she moved given her exaustion and injuries from the night's events. Across and down the metal railings she came to the level of the Batcave devoted to the so-called "Batcomputer".

Newsfeeds and surveillance on all of Gotham across these screens. Including a strange looking meteorite orbiting in what looked like space. A finger sitting at the computer desk's reclining chair shut that feed off upon hearing Cassandra's arrival.

"Well, glad to see your up and about" a female voice spoke up. Cassandra turned to see a red-haired young woman in a wheelchair roll up to greet her.

"Ahhh..." Cassandra spoke softly, "Hi"

Barbera gave her a hand to shake, which Cassandra returned in greeting. "I caught a glimpse of you in action, you're not bad if I say so myself"

Cassandra was confused again.

"Sorry. I mean that I hacked security feeds on the docks, and around the Hatter's hideout, caught you on camera wiping the floor with those thugs. I'm good like that. It's how _he_found you"

She pointed her head over to the chair, where Batman was still silently typing away without a word. Cassandra let out a apprehensive gulp, being in his presence again.

"He's not a people person either" Barbera joked. "This was your first time wasn't it? Fighting crime?"

Cassandra silently nodded.

"Thought from what I figure, you have the training. I mean... not many can take a bullet without flincing."

Cassandra didn't give any gesture or emotion for a moment, letting that sink in while experiencing bad memories of her childhood.

"Not... training... like... game"

Barbera didn't exactly know what to say to that.

"Whatever you want to call it... it was sloppy" Batman finally spoke, still with his back to her in his seat.

"Your skills are good, fighting... but you use them recklessly. You let your rage compromise your control, in your stances and with that sword." he continued, while Cassandra hung her head in shame.

"But" Barbera then added sucinctly in bold. Batman sighed as he finally turned to address the two of them face to face.

"But... you risked your life to save your friend, and all those girls. Had you had better intel on your target, the mission would have proved more successful."

"We cut some slack to the better first-timers, the rest of the lone guns we usually shut down" Barbera said while resting her hands behind her head and leaning back in her wheelchair. "Though in your case... this might of just been a spur of the moment kind of thing. We won't hold it against you if you wouldn't be interested in doing this on a regular basis."

"This is a dangerous line of work, for only those willing to endure and protect with the best of their ability."

As that statement settled in for Cassandra, shock crossed her cheeks as she let out a gasp, "Ste-Stephanie!"

"Ms. Brown is safe" Batman assured her as he stood up, "Now... who are you? I hate to be informal, but the database has no trace of your fingerprints. In any system"

Cassandra looked at her fingerprints to see them covered in ink. She looked back up at Barbera and Batman in annoyance.

"Barbera Gordon" the woman then said to take the first step. "On the street you might of heard of me as the Oracle Network"

After exchanging glances with both of them, after a lifetime of running and trying to remain annonymous...

"Ca-Cass... Cassandra"

"Cassandra" Batman adamently said, finally getting to know the young girl so strong willed and lethal in her abilites. "I want to find out if you're up to working for me... working for the Justice League"

He eyes went wide, in a flabbergasted look at such an offer. A few hours ago she was a street rat, now she's getting the chance to become... a superhero!?

"Are you proud of what you did tonight?" Batman asked her point blank, while stepping forward to the young woman.

"...Yes..."

Now for the real precision strike question. "Was it enough?"

"..._**No**_..."

Batman actually let out a faint smile. "Good"

"I'm suprised, Batman" Barbera then said as she rolled in to join the two closer, "You've been hold up in this cave so long, I didn't think you accept anyone's help. Including some new blood."

"It took tonight for me to realize that I can hide from what's happened... I can only look ahead and keep from repeating it."

Cassandra knew that sentiment all too well, and those words had a profound effect on her.

"And another thing, Barbera" Batman then said, as he TOOK OFF HIS MASK, "You might as well keep calling me Bruce, even in front of her. She'll need to know it eventually"

Cassandra stoically tried to hold back the mindblowing occurance before her... the Batman unmasked.

"Wh-what now?" she then asked.

"Now comes the hard work.." Barbera said with a smile,

"To see if your ready for that cowl" the unmasked Batman then said pointing back up towards the top of the cavern. Cassandra turned to see the display case once more. Her eyes lit up towards a case she managed to pass by without a second thought or recognition...

the case which held the pointed cowl and armor of BATGIRL.

"Shall we begin?" Batman then asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Depends" Cassandra then tried to shrug, before recoiling and holding her wound again. She nodded her head back up to the case, as Bruce and Barbera smiled "Come in black?"


	8. Powerboy

**Story by Darksuperboy**

**Written by Zor-Alov**

* * *

**Siegelville, Florida  
June 8, 2017  
7:16am EST**

_BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ_

The rest of his roommates in the shared apartment were abroad, leaving the entire place to Carl. It was so peaceful and quiet, all the space to himself. All the time to sleep in, the atmosphere putting him in a restful...

_BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ_

Carl threw the pillow over his head, as he tried to ignore that irritating alarm clock beside his bed. He tried to think of anything that would kept him asleep in bed, as that damn clock buzzed louder and louder.

_BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ_

8:30 class was inching closer away and the bus to campus was arriving in 15 minutes... but the bed was just soooo comfy. He didn't want to leave it so...  
_  
BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ_

This time he hit the alarm clock with his pillow. It only took him a second to reconsider that action, because now it was blasting and out of reach on the floor.

_BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ_

He groaned out loud, and threw the covers over his face trying to ignore the alarm and get back to sleep. Nothing could get him up. He hadn't missed classes all semester long, one day wouldn't hurt. Carl was just in such a warm and cozy mode of comfort. His mind was a blank, as he fought to block out the alarm clock. Nothing could get him out of bed, absolutely...

And then Linda Danvers (from Mythology class) popped into his mind, at which point Carl hopped out of bed, kicked the alarm clock off in his mad dash, and made a beeline to take a shower. A long cold one.

How the minds of young men do work.

Ten minutes later, Carl was cleaned up and shaved... his feet barely touching the floor as he raced through the shared living room of the apartment. With his brown hair barely dry, he grabbed his bag with one hand and a toaster strudel fresh out of the toaster with the other. He was out the door just as the morning bus arrived.

Carl dropped in change with a strudel still in his mouth as he multitasked his hands between his backpack and the quarters. The bus driver gave him an odd look, then shrugged him off, as Carl made his way to a seat. The driver closed the doors and hit the throttle as the bus went into motion. Of course, the instant thrust sent the still standing Carl flying face first into the bus floor. A few college students and random riders got a nice laugh at that, the strudel smushed up all over his face as he picked himself up.

Humiliated, the bitter Carl Vorne didn't let it show as he fumbled his way to a seat in the back. He slung his head back and tried to drown out the world around him, as he somberly rode to college. His eyes quickly glanced at every other passenger on the bus that laughed at his misfortune. He quietly sat with the backpack in his lap, burning their faces into his memory.

The day passed in a daze of classes that seemed to fly by. It almost felt like he closed his eyes and found himself right back on the bus as it headed back. Same seat, same bus, different passengers this late in the afternoon. The only part Carl had managed to remember all day was Linda... err, I mean his Mythology class.

The sun was in his eyes the way back, as he buried in a textbook for the class. Research for another paper on top of the other four he has to do before Finals. At the very least, this subject matter was a little more tolerable (as opposed to the other required classes).

The page was on the mythological hero of Babylon, MARDUK. The god of gods, a demi-hero would wielded the rain and thunder. Carl was just fascinated by this character, it would be easy to write a paper on this guy. Easier than another one he had in Intro to Law.

He was steadily reading away, when a spark jolted Carl up in his seat. A short static discharge that appeared out of nowhere as his fingers tried to turn the page.

"How the" Carl said perplexingly, all while a low-level ringing now occurred in his ears. He tapped them wiggled his fingers in them, it felt like going down a hill in car... but it was a sharp ringing. Growing louder, and now more painful as the other passengers of the bus began to hear it and clutch their heads.

Carl dropped the book sitting in his lap as he got to his feet, with the ringing growing ever louder. Almost like a roar now, as it seemed to shake the whole bus. He'd kill for that damn alarm clock over whatever this was. The static picked up around the bus, frying the electronics in the hands of several teens, while the systems in the front of the bus flickered on and off for the driver.

A bright flash blinded the passengers, as Carl snuck a peek at something out the window shooting by. It was the source of the rumbling bus, the haywire electronics, and the deafening ringing. A bright flash of light that was surging past within the powerlines at breakneck speed.

It was inches from the bus as it zoomed off, when suddenly a another bright beam struck the powerlines. Like a red beam of energy.

The surging electricity exploded outward in sparks that struck the bus, while the driver in front grinding to a pulsepounding halt. Something ahead of the bus had landed right in the middle of the pavement with thunderous force. The bus attempted to swerve around this crater that was dazziling with sparks and electrical discharge.

But the driver was too late in his reaction, as Carl and the passengers held on for dear life. Nearly tipping over, the bus crashed into a tree on the side of the road. The impact sends passengers flying, and Carl once again finds himself on the floor again. The heavy thud takes a wallop out of Carl, but he manages to pick himself up once again, while bus riders also struggle to get up. Carl's forehead is bleeding as he holds his hand on it. He looks around, and at the front he sees the driver passed. He turns toward the half-shattered windows to see the street now full of dust and debris. It was hard to make out anything, but then Carl spotted some shape come hurtling out from the crater. But it wasn't rubble being thrown, as a shape took figure before the wondermeant of the injured passengers also now looking out the window.

Her boots scraping down through the pavement as she slide to halt right beside the bus. Shock quickly overcame Carl as he peered out the fractured window in awe of heroine as she her cape unfurled to reveal the Kryptonian Emblem on her chest (you know the thing that looks like an "S" to us).  
**  
"Supergirl"** he murmered in awe as he pressed against the glass at the sight of the golden-haired young powerhouse.

His shock was quickly replaced by a real shock of electricity as a blast of energy shot from the crater and hit Supergirl. The released wattage was enough to shock everyone in the bus, knocking Carl backwards from the static-charged strike.

A second electric bolt shot out of the crater, but Supergirl wasn't the target this time as floated off the ground. The beam connected to the surrounding street lights and parked cars which all began wailing with alarms before slowly dying. Another female form strolled out of the crater as the smoked cleared and the electricity was drained from within her radius.

Her cackle was like the sound of pure electromagnetic static, as the insidious laugh surged through the air. Her very pale appearance and spiked hair sent passerbys fleeing for their lives at of her.

"What's the matter, Super Punk? Can't take a little _ZAP_!?" Livewire taunted the heroine, while letting out another powerful punch of her electric blasts. Kara groaned as she took another direct blast. She could barely float as it were, and that last blast hurtled her back to the ground. She picked herself off leaning on the side of the bus, covered with dust and cuts while wobbling

"Is... is that all you've got?" Supergirl said with a heavy breath, "I've had fresh laundry that shocked more than.."

The alien heroine's taunts were immediatly met by another powerful blast by Livewire. But to Carl's amazement, Supergirl stood her ground and refused to yield. It wasn't just her cockiness in the face of a supervillain that impressed him, but to Carl this girl in front of him was the pinnacle of beauty. He could just look at her radiance forever...

But unfortunatly for him, he didn't have forever since he was smackdab and zoned out in the middle of superhuman battle, trapped in a crashed bus as the rest of the passengers clammered to break the doors loose.

As Livewire sashaed across the street, her presence itself bringing further pain to the belligerent Supergirl, her eyes perked when she snuck a glance at the oogling eyes behind her combatant. "What do we have here?" she says with a grin.

With a wave of her hands she sent a set of cables exploding over the powerlines above the bus, entangling Supergirl and tossing her aside into a nearby house across the way. She then cackled as she disappeared in the blink of an eye. Carl unglued himself from the window and jumped out of the seat in panic, as horns went off and lightning flashed in and out of metal objects and electronics all over the block.

Carl couldn't even keep track of where this madwoman had gone he turned, a heavy thud from the streak of electricity jumpstarted the bus. The remaining passengers fleed out the now opened doors. Carl was about to do the same, when he saw that they left the unconcious bus driver stranded in his seat. With the powerlines still letting off sparks and dangling over a crashed bus, it could explode any minute.

Before Carl could get to the front of the bus, a long and slender leg blocked the aisle. Carl turned and let out a yelp as he came face to face with Livewire herself, sitting daintly and playfully in the seat with a rather sinister look on his face.

"Well aren't you a cute one" the woman hissed as she flicked Carl's nose. It singed the hairs, or any future ones to come, right out of his nostrils from the juice in barley her pinkie finger. Carl toppled backwards into the seat. He pushed himself against the bus frame trying to escape, but Livewire came closer, smiling mischievously all the while.

"I caught you gawking there, and I know you seemed to like what you saw" she said with a sparkle in her eye, as she grabbed his shirt collar

"Now don't you worry, sugar... Livewire's gonna treat you good!"

The blue-skinned maniac then leaned into him as she pressed her lips together with his. Livewire's idea of kissing, was completing an electrical circuit through their lip contact, as Carl got the brunt of a few dozen volts of electricty for a split second. The bus seat felt like the executioner's chair. She let up the smooching as she cackled and saw Carl shake with agony. Before he could even get to his senses, she back in "You enjoy that as much as I did?"

Before he could answer, and before she could commence round two, a fist pierced through the bus' side window and collided with freak's grinning face. Livewire was sent flying through the other side of the bus with a crash, right into a mailbox.

Carl had the feeling back in his limbs as he turned around only to come face to face with the badly bruised Supergirl herself.

"Ahhh... errr, C-Carl. That's that's my name... ahhh.. Hi" was all that Carl could muster to say, breathing heavily and trying not to blush.

"Nice to... meet you Carl" she struggled to likewise converse, as she helped Carl out of the bus "Livewire's always had a twisted sense of... humor. You okay?"

"FINE! Yeah, fine fine! That was wow... that was scary. The way she.. she.. I didn't enjoy any of... errrahhhh You... ahhh, no offense, you aren't looking... ahhh... too good... NOT that you don't usually look good, I mean..."

"I'll be... fine" Supergirl said without much second thought to the random citizen, "Now could you please run for you life?"

"Wait! What about the..." just as Carl was about to tell Supergirl about the driver still trapped in the bus, an electric bolt surged through the area and back through the downed cable wires. The bolt split into six seperate bolts that struck Supergirl and sent her hurtling backwards.

"Cheap shot, little girl!" Livewire said as she she reappeared with a flash of electricity.

The two metahumans stood off against each other now, as Supergirl got to her feet as adament as before. The other was waiting for the other to strike first, as Livewire grinned her pearly teeth while Supergirl glared at the supervillain.

Eventually, Livewire made the first move as she screamed and lept at Supergirl in a flurry of sparks and lightning. Carl could barely make out what was conspiring, as he turned back to the bus, against his better judgement, and climbed in. As the fight took place outside like a lightshow, Carl dragged the heavy bus driver out of the wrecked vehicle and onto a front lawn near by, aways enough in case the bus did in fact explode what with all the carnage going on.

"You'll be safe here for now!" he grunted while removing the driver's arm from over his shoulder and plopping him down on the ground.

When Carl turned his sight back to the battle, he heared the sounds of a screaming Supergirl as she was thrown into the shattered roadway.

He turned the corner of the bus to see Supergirl kneeling in front of him in pain, as Livewire clawed at her head, sending bolts of electricity into her. Guess she didn't want to kiss her like with Carl... nothing... nevermind... mental picture gone.

Livewire cackled as she amped up the juice. Carl stood helpless, frozen in horror, as he watched the mayhem unfold. Of all the things to think about in what looked like Supergirl's final moments... he was quite baffled as to how (being from from Krypton after all like SUPERMAN) she was taking so much damage from meer electricity.

Just as this pondering thought crossed his mind, Carl spotted a tint of color that didn't belong on Livewire's electric spectrum, as the maniac woman stood over Supergirl. Amidst the blue bolts of electricity... there was green in the center of her chest that didn't belong. The young man then processed what was happening, **KRYPTONITE**. A necklace with a fragment of the infamous green rock hung around her neck.

Scores of police and city responders were now on the scene, skidding round the corner with lights and sirens blazing louder than hell. Annoyed, Livewire waves a hand at the incoming cars, while keeping another hand firmly gripped on the young girl's golden locks. Her free hand unleashed a wamy of blast from the tips of her fingers. The tires burst on the first police car, grinding it to a halt and smashing it into the cars right behind. An amublance loses control as electricity is drained, while trying to avoid the crashing cop cars. He swerves right into the sidewalk, passing straight though a fire hydrant and slamming into a lamp post.

With another flick of her fingers, she sent the bus careening backwards with a smash right into the pinned cop cars, as the officers jumped out of them. One of the toppled cars, now on its side, had the petrol tank exposed. With a flick of the old body electric, Livewire blasted the tank and caused a massive explosion. The bus, the cop cars, all ignited in a fiery blast that created a smoldering barrier for the block.

She cracked her fingers then blew the smoke off her index like a wild west gunslinger. She then holsters her hand onto her side with a slap of her butt. With the cops delayed, she turned back to the matter at hand. Carl, after having dodged the bus and still standing in the street amidst the chaos, saw Livewire crouch down to Supergirl and laugh, readied to kill her with a smile. Carl was getting angry, as well as stupid enough to try something REALLY stupid.

"Well it's been fun, but now's time to-" before she could finish that sentance, and bring her full powers to bare against the helpless Supergirl... Carl blindsided her with like a football player. A clumsy one at best as he fumbled with her on the ground.

"Boy, now's not the time to try and cop a-HEEEY!" As Carl grabbed at her chest, he finally got what he really wanted off of her, as he was blasted off when Livewire realized what he was doing. He got to his feet and ran, with the Kryptonite necklace now in hand.

In a flash of light, Livewire bursted out in front of him, leering at him as she angrily re-formed. "GIVE THAT BACK!"

Carl shook his head and refused, clutching the rock for dear life, all while knowing she could kill him with but a flick of her wrist.

The villainess reached for it as the two struggled like toddlers playing keep away on the playground. But the game was over the minute she knocked Carl off his feet and right into the air. He landed on the ground hard, with what felt like broken ribs from the impact.

"This 'll hurt me more than it'll hurt you, sugar!" she hissed as she approached him, getting closer and angrier looking. "NOW FORK IT OVER BEFORE I..."

In a REALLY REALLY stupid, and last ditch effort... Carl did the only thing he could do to keep it out of her grasp. He ripped the rock off the necklace and in one fell swoop put it in his mouth. Livewire and Supergirl, from seperate ends of the street watched wide-eyed in disbelief as he swallowed the Kryptonite.

Carl didn't exactly know how rocks terrestrial or foreign tasted like... but the rock he just engulfed had the distinct taste of dirt, and BURNING. He pretended the sharp jagged piece of spacerock was REALLY hard gum, fooled his mind easier and prevented his body from barfing it up. He really didn't want to barf in front of Supergirl while pathetically trying to save her... or for that matter barf on Livewire and piss her off even more.

Pissing of the villainess more seemed almost impossible as she appeared to have burst a vain with the enraged look that now crossed her face.

"You're gonna regret that last meal, pretty boy... PREPARE TO BECOME A HUMAN BARE-B-QUE!"

It was the most unbearable pain Carl had ever felt in his life, as Livewire let loose everything she had on the poor dumb kid trying to play hero. It surged through every pore of his body, the electricity ripping him apart. Livewire grinned with evil delight as Carl wriggled and screamed. His eyes convulsed, while his innards were about to explode from the magnitude of the blast.

The rock now sitting in his stomach began to glow from the surge of the electric shock, pulsating and emitting waves... cells began to glow at the molecular level... METAGENES.

As this transpired, Supergirl began to regain her strength as she got back to her feet. Her muscles ached but the glimmering sunset was enought to bring her back back to full power. Her hands clentched as well as her teeth, as Supergirl was free from the radiation of the Kryptonite poisoning.

The villainess was caught off guard by Supergirl's thundering punch, as she flew right into her at superhuman speeds fist first.

She knocked the electric evildoer right into the path of the open fire hydrant. The water struck her on impact, and conducted her living energies in a pulse-pounding light show. Livewire let out a shriek as she was zapped and drained. But even so, her attack continued still across the street, as her blast surged and agonized Carl to his last dying breath.

The second Livewire died down and feel to her knees. Supergirl kicked her square in the face and to the curb, unconcious. Her electricity was depleated for now, but Supergirl turned her attention to Carl as she flew back over to him in a horrified hurry. The lightshow ended for him, with Livewire's defeat, as the electricity surging through him depleated, and he collapsed to the ground.

She looked down with a gasp to see the tongue-twisted, albeit courageous young man, now charred and barely alive. His hair stood on end, with a streak of yellow in it from the shock to his system. The impact of the very blast left a scar on the center of his chest. If she didn't have superhearing to pick up the slow pumping of his heart, anyone else would have thought the poor young man was dead were he laid, a blackened and broken body.

"Oh, nooo..." Supergirl solemly said as she kneeled down to Carl's aid. Paramedics and police made it through the burning carnage, as firefighters put it out. Armed SWAT teams surrounded Livewire and prepared to put her in protective custody to keep her contained, while the rest of the responders and home owners staggering out of their homes... stood surrounded before Supergirl and the nearly unrecognizable body at her feet. The responders rushed over to do what they could.

But the to officers' shock, another costumed hero arrived on the scene in a streak, right behind them. Kid Flash stopped cold in his tracks, after catching his breath from apparently trying to get to Supergirl. He started to push his way through the responders.

"Sorry I didn't make it here sooner, what did I... I... Jesus" Bart said aloud, as he took his goggles off.

He saw Kara, with the lifeless body of the brutally scarred young man in her arms, as she staggered to get him into the ambulance.

**Watchtower  
June 8, 2017  
8:52pm UTC**

Nightwing waited on at the Zeta tube station, as they activated online.  
_  
"RECOGNIZE... AQUALAD B-02, RECOGNIZE... MISS MARTIAN B-05"_ the computer said aloud.

"We just heard" Kaldur greeted his friend by immediatly getting down to business.

"How is she?" M'gann approached Nightwing as she asked.

"Kara's fine for the time being, she's in Medical right now. Connor and J'onn are with her."

He and the newly arrived members headed right down to Medical Bay. They marched through the sliding electric doors of the station, and down the halls to the elevators. Before reaching them, they were stopped by Cyborg and Weylyn of all people. Vic tried to hold off Weylyn, but he seemed to be in a rage.

"Hey!" Weylyn approached Nightwing in a huff, "You slags gonna tell us what happened down there, or what!?"

"Not right now..." Nightwing didn't even look the 6ft alien in the eyes as he walked on by in a hurry. He didn't have the time. Weylyn shoved right in front of Nightwing. "See... that there was rude, pretty boy. All I did was ask ya a question."

"We will discuss this later" Kaldur tried to difuse the situation, "Now if you could just..."

The alien leaned down and got into Nightwing's face. "NO. No, see... last time I checked, I was still a part of this team of your's up here. So since I'm a team player and all... I think I have the right to some answers when I ask you a SIMPLE. LITTLE. QUESTION."

He jabbed a finger into Nightwing's chest with each bolded word. At which Nightwing pushed Weylyn with a shove that barely budged him, but got him surely rilled up.

"I'm not in the mood for this... Slobo. You won't an apology or something?!" Nightwing shouldn't have used that cross nickname. Weylyn's eyes buldged. "No, but I'll start with your-"

"Enough!" Kaldur interjected himself and pushed the two apart before tempers could flare. Cyborg held Weylyn back as he cooled off, while Kaldur and M'gann.

"Supergirl is fine, Weylyn! You need to CALM. DOWN." M'gann said with a stern maternal instinct. The Czarnian clone let out a huff and growled at Nightwing. "And Nightwing IS sorry. Things are a little tense, so we all need to just BREATH."

"I don't like being ignored, pretty boy. And I really don't king being kept in the..." Weylyn said he took deep breaths. He looked at Cyborg, "WE really don't like being kept in the dark!"

"Hate to say it, but I gotta go with him on this" Cyborg explained to the senior members, "Look all we've heard was that Supergirl got knocked around real bad by some superfreak. When we got word that someone got beamed up in critical condition.."

"She's alive, and she's doing better now" Nightwing told Cyborg "The one in critical is another matter entirely. We'll try to keep you in the loop, but right now need everyone focused and thinking straight, alright?"

His attention turned to the angry alien's cold red eyes.

"Fine." Weylyn grumbled.

Nightwing glared at him with some hinting disbelief. Either way he didn't have the time for it.

"We'll brief everyone in a little bit" M'gann told the two young recruits, as the three members continued on their way and got on one of the elevators. The doors sealed closed as they headed down to the Medical bay. Back in the hallway, Weylyn was getting a look and a raised eyebrow from Cyborg as he stood there with his arms crossed.

"Got want to start something, ya walkin scrap pile?"

"It's just ahhh... you seemed REALLY worked up about Supergirl." Cyborg teased.

"Shut up."

"You asked."

"I only got WORKED UP when Nighty-Nighty and the founders there, treated me like a second-class citizen! I pull my weight like everyone else."

"Hey come on, no one says you don't!" Cyborg now got defensive.

"Whatever" he sighed, trying to put it behind him. "Just askin a simple question, he didn't half to start nothing. I only wanted to know if she's wormchow or not!"

Cyborg gave him an ood look.

"Well... if she's wrecked, then that'd leave me to do all the damn work on that farm they stranded me on! Like milking those stupid cows of theirs. I hate those feathery little drz'yams with thier beaks and..."

"Ahh, Juggalo boy... those are chickens."

"Wait, what?"

"CHICKENS are those little feathery things! COWS are the big black and white things with hooves in the field." Cyborg couldn't believe he had to explain this to the towering, albeit clueless alien.

Weylyn let that thought sit in for a little bit.

"...Oh, crap."

Cyborg facepalmed.

"But... but if those aren't cows, then what have the frack have we been drinking out of them?!"

Down in the viewing area outside of medical, Supergirl could be seen sitting on the side of a bed. She was a bit bruised, he legs hanging off the side were cut and blackened. Connor was standing right beside her, while Martian Manhunter preformed scans on her with a handheld device. She spotted the three arriving heroes with a weak smile and an "OK" sign with her fingers.

When Connor turns to greet the threesome, they can see the black eye he likewise recieved, as well as some more brutal looking wounds on his arms. He tells her something unheard from behind the glass as she nods. Connor then heads out of the bay and into the viewing room to chat with his teammates.

"You are looking like you require the bed more than Kara" Kaldur told his friend.

"What happened?" M'gann said as she approached her boyfriend.

"Got a little more trouble than we bargained for in Metropolis" Connor revealed. "Normal patrol, when we picked up an alarm at the Mega Mall, power outage and panic caused by electrical surges."

"Livewire" Kaldur surmised, knowing most of Superman's rogues gallery.

"CCTV was out, so we only realized too late that it was her. She was packing a bit more than we anticipated"

"She had Kryptonite?" M'gann asked, as Connor simple nodded. It only took a small chunk to do a lot of damage.

M'gann rubbed his bruised eye, caught uncomfortable between wanting to show care, while also remaining professional. "I've had worse, would ya relax" Connor calmly said as he took her hand.

"You were able to call back-up?" Kaldur continued after clearning his throat to get the attention of the alien couple.

"Sphere was with us, and the only ones nearby were Beetle and Kid Flash. After Sphere was shorted out, those two worked on her. I was already knocked out by the time Supergirl took her on. She tried to get Livewire away from bystanders, instead the psycho made a break through the electrical grids.

"We got the alarm when half the eastern seaboard experienced brown-outs" Nightwing interjected.

"If Kara hadn't outflew her, and stopped her in Florida, she would have escaped. Kid Flash caught up with her by the time it was over, he was helping evacuate the building before the roof caved" Superboy continued.

"She did well, especially against as strong an opponent as her" Kaldur said glowingly about the young Kryptonian.

"That just leaves the question of who supplied Livewire with Kryptonite... she's back in her rubber cell at Belle Reve, but I don't think she's in a talkative mood" Nightwing's mental cogs began to turn.

"And what about him?" M'gann then asked while peering into the other room in the Medical bay. Connor, Nightwing, and Kaldur approached behind her, viewing in to see a still charred Carl in the hospital bed.

"Who is he?" Kaldur asked with a puzzled look, he also wanted answers out of Nightwing.

"Carl Vorne, he's a student at Shuster College, down where the battle spilled out into." Nightwing had a digital readout of his transcript on his wrist-worn holographic screen. It showed him as a mostly B-grade Photography and English Lit double major.

"Kara had helped medics take him to a local hospital, after he got pretty badly wounded by Livewire."

"Guy shouldn't even be alive." Connor astoundingly said, looking at the kid's current state. He was cleaned up a little, but still scarred up and on a respirator.

"After we arrived to pick up Kara and get her some attention, they refered him to us when they discovered his _unique condition_"

"What condition is that?" Kaldur turned to ask.

Nightwing pulled up another scan on his holo-readout, over the window. "He swallowed the Kryptonite chunk that Livewire had"

An x-ray showed the rock in his system.

"It's what saved Kara"

"That's either the bravest or dumbest thing I've ever heard of." M'gann said quite frankly.

"J'onn thankfully was able to density shift it out of him before the radiation did any lasting damage."

"But it does not affect humans lethally" Kaldur questioned.

"Not at first" Connor butted in. Dick and Kaldur's confused eyes turned to him now. He had something that either was aware of.

"Ahh, at STAR Labs, Doctor Hamilton ran some tests on one of those fragments. He seemed to think, that low levels over time of Kryptonite can have the same affect as instant contact does for me, Kara, and Superman."

"Wait..." M'gann turned back to Nightwing "Are you saying Carl was showing instant effects of Kryptonite poisoning?"

"It looks that way... and it gets weirder. J'onn wasn't the first attempt we tried to remove the rock. Doctors tried to do it surgically... but they couldn't even cut him open." Nightwing didn't see any easy or logically way to put it.

"The blades bent trying to pierce his skin."

All eyes in the ward cautiously turned to Carl, comatose on the bed. Who... _or what_... has he become?

**Watchtower  
June 9, 2017  
12:45am UTC**

Kara sat up in the medical bed, looking out at the view of Earth as it glimmered. She was feeling much better, now basically recovered from the Kryptonite attack planetside... but which wasn't sleeping well at all. Not while knowing some poor dumb kid is in the other room, half-dead, because of her.

She could slightly hear the respirator and heart-monitor behind the wall, slowed to a crawl. Kara was feeling pretty miserable. And then she felt even more miserable the second she heard a knock on the door, followed by Weylyn entering the room.

"Is somebody's boo-boos feeling all better?" he said with a gufaw, as he stormed in with his big boots.

"More or less" Kara said, with the slightest annoyance. He was the last person she wanted to see at the moment, and yet he took a lode off, in the seat next to the bed. Even plopped his feet on the side and leaned in the chair.

"Can I help you with anything, Weylyn?" she delicatly asked.

"Ooh, I just wanted to... check up on ya, Kansas. That's all." she wasn't sure of his sincerity

"Heard you took quite a beating, thanks to that Kryolite-stuff"

"Kryptonite" she bluntly corrected him.

"Whatever. Seems like a really stupid weakness in most regards, I mean a little rock can make wimps outta you and the Boy of Steel?! Heh-heh..."

Eventually, Kara got a little impatient and kicked his feet off the bed. He slammed back forward in the chair, as it hit the floor.

"Can you please just go, it's late I'm REALLY not in the mood for this!"

Weylyn growled and got up from his seat in a huff, "Nobody's got time, everyone's too busy to be bothered by the big stupid alien..." he was getting quite worked up now. "Want me to say it? FINE. I just wanted to know if you were all right, you kezy fem!"

Supergirl turned with some suprise.

"You were really worried?"

"YEAH! I was, I meant it, I-GAH! WHY is that so hard to believe?"

She didn't doubt his sincerity anymore.

"Look, Kansas. I know give you and the Kents a hard time, I can be a real piece of crap. But that's just blood and genes kickin' in, it's all I use to know."

"Use to?"

"Yeah. Ever since I got shipped off to the farm, it's either been rules this, rules that, chores chores chores, or slagging up here while everyone's on egg shells the minute I enter the room. Tell me it's for my own good, tell me what to do and when to do it... so I give everyone back a hard time because of it, I have a jerky defense mechanism or whatever. And yet out of all them, you _Ma_ and _Pa_ still treated me like normal"

For Kara to hear this was quite a shocker, this was deep even for him. He even sat down normal like as he began to calm and explain this all to her.

"I'm a giant pain, a big scary alien with attitude that must people are afraid of. But I've stuck around out there because... ahhh, because you and thoseother two aren't afraid. You all treat me like... I belong."

"I- I don't know what to say. Really"

"I hate this mushy stuff..." Weylyn mumbled, thinking this was a mistake to talk about

"No, it's not being mushy. It's just, you tend to avoid your emotions unless their bottled up and exploding with rage. That's why everyone's afraid of you... most of the time."

"You all keep me around for when something needs punching, but those Founders couldn't care less how I feel or when I need something." Weylyn grumbled.

"That's not true, you big idiot."

"See... most of the time with you, you're either too nice for your own good, or you put me in my stinkin place. It's so frakkin frustrating... and yet I don't seem to mind it"

"Apparently what you needed was a big sister to keep you in line" Supergirl said have jokingly.

"Ah, jeez sorry... this is getting complica-I, I I'm sorry I ever brought this mess up."

"It's fine, just wait a second Weylyn." now he was the one getting impatient, as he readied to storm out. "I meant what I said too. I'll be the first to admit we stuck you in Kansas to give you a wide... _wide_ berth, but now I think we've found you what you really wanted... a family."

Weylyn groaned.

"Hear me out. All you've had is the violence given to you by the blood Intergang cloned you from... but you joined us willingly when you told us you didn't want to kill or hurt anyone. From what I've heard, Superboy wasn't exactly the friendlist person to be around when he came out of the cloning pod either."

"That a fac, Kansast?" he asked, intrigued. He sat down on the bed beside Kara now.

"He had his team, and the Kents, to socialize him a bit. That he could actually talk to. He was less angry all the time when he let people in."

"Less angry, less than how I blew up at Nightwing today..."

"He mentioned that"

"I... I was worried about you, alright. You, the farmers, and maybe the Geek" Supergirl picked up on how of all the people he cared about, he'd mention Cissie. "You're the only ones I trust, that I don't kinda hate. I didn't want anything bad to happen to ya, and he just blew me off like I didn't matter. I MAY have overreacted." he squinched his fingers like a pinch of salt.

"Look, the Team just needs to get better adjusted to you. Get to know you better like we all have."

"Right as usual, I guess." he rolled his eyes, but Supergirl warmly patted him on the back.

"I'm not saying you have tell people EVERYTHING that you're feeling" Kara said with flair using her arms "But it stands to reason they'd feel easier to be around you if didn't give off that vibe of yours"

"I don't think it's Czarnian-like to be this in-touch with my feelings and stuff... but I read ya and I'll work on it, I suppose. Wait... that _vibe_, you mean my generally _Main Man_charisma?"

"I was gonna say that other feeling you give off, like one wrong word and the arms start to get ripped out of sockets... but sure will call it your charisma."

"Well" he shrugged, "Hehm... I can't make any promises... Heeeh heh heh heeeh..."

In the room next door, as Carl still laid comatose, his heart monitor started beeping more repeatedly. The heartrate was slowly intensified, quickeing with the beeps of the machine. As the respirator controlling his breathing also intensified, so did Carl's movemenet, however slightly. His fingers twitched, the first sign of real-life he's shown in the last 12 hours. His eyes were still closed, but REM was occuring in his sleep.

His concious mind couldn't make out exactly what he was seeing, but it was intense... it was almost nightmarish. Screams, burning buildings, a hellish landscape. They passed before him like frightening seizure-inducing flashes. Like something much worse was missing. Carl was writhing with pain, trying to escape as his hands were bound... and the heat of the burning flames grew. Like being trapped alive in a creamatory furnace.

He was finally broken free of the nightmare, of the visions, by a pair of eyes... two seething red eyes that looked right into his soul. Then they turned blistering white and engulfed him in fire.

Carl finally awoke, screaming at the top of his lungs. But the nightmare was far from over. As he struggled to move, everything around him was just as frightening an ordeal as his visions. The walls disappeared and reappeared around him, showing the emptiness of space. He could see the circuitry and innerworkings of the ceiling and floor. He could even see people walking, from floors way up above his head.

But he could see right through them like the walls, showing bone or muscle in split-second intervals, some only nerves and eyeballs... a monstrous sight, he couldn't even close his eyes to make them go away. His horrific experience was only furthered in that his ears rung with pain.

Every little sound or word around him he could pick up, like standing under the barrel of a tank cannon as it fired, it was deafening and booming. A nightmarish series of unending echos, worsened as Carl continued screaming and trying to break loose. He had a tube down his throat, which didn't help his paniced state.

He throttled and struggled to pull it out, gagging and stressed to unimaginable degrees. His heartrate was through the root, his body was scarred and barely healed, yet he felt energy coursing through it.

With a gag, he pulled the last of the tube out, and with it his fingers began to tense. Sparks flew as electrical energy began to surge from his hand.

"Wait-" Supergirl said in the other room, sensing something was wrong. The lights began to dim.

She got out of the bed, but her legs were still a little sore.

"Woo, there Kansas" Weylyn got a little jumpy as he helped hold Kara up. "I don't think that's a good-"

The two then heard Carl's screams this time, as he smashed his way out of the bed, the machinary and electronics shattering into pieces like cheap plastic. He barely hit them, as he awed at his strength, all the while going made as his sight was twisted by these x-ray flashs. He bellowed out a blood-curdling scream as his feet impacted onto the floor, his eyes glowing with energy.

Before the two in the other room knew it, Carl's fearful cries were followed by an explosive force could be seen through the glass to the hallway. The lights on the entire floor surged with blue energy and explosivly died right after the blast.

"Finally" Weylyn said as he cracked his knuckles, "Something to do..." he finished with a smile.

Kara fumbled a bit, but was able to move as fast Weylyn could as they rushed out into the hallway. As soon as they left the doorframe, they spotted Carl for a split-second, before he went hurtling through the metal and barrings of the ceiling above them. He jumped and tore right through it like tissue paper.

"Well this just isn't your day, is it?" Weylyn turned back to Kara as he snorted and let fly a loogie. She just shook her head in disbelief, peering through the hole Daniel managed to tear through the Watchtower.

On other parts of the Watchtower, Nightwing and the rest detected signs of an explosive, they even felt the concussion of Carl's destructive path through the upper floors.

"The hell's going on?" Superboy said aloud.

After suiting back up, and giving time for Weylyn to grab his weapons out of a locker, she and Weylyn made their way up to the upper decks. Kara tapped into the feed of her wrist holo-communicator and put the station on Red Alert.

_"We have a situation, people! Vorne's awake... and he's-"_

_"He's frackin up the place with his bare hands! But don't worry a thing 'bout it, sweethearts. Will take care of him for ya!" _Weylyn budded in, screaming. Superboy logged Weylyn out the second he started laughing. He and the rest of the team only take comfort that he's on their side.

As everyone else on the station dropped what they were doing. They rushed to meet Supergirl, as the Red Alert she sent out came with a signal to their locations. She and Weylyn were moving fast as they raced after Carl down the hallways. He left a trail of damage throughout the halls, footprints and torn apart walls. So it was an easy trail to follow.

Eventually after a ways, the two heard a crash up ahead. They'd gotten close. By the time Supergirl and Weylyn had turned the corner, they saw the doors to the cafeteria had been smashed in.

Weylyn had his hooked chain, now attached to a gun of sorts, drawn and pointed as the two burst into the darkened cafeteria. No sign of Carl, just the empty room.

"Come out, come out, where ever you are..." Weylyn growled.

"Easy there, Weylyn" Supergirl tried to get him to tone down the gunhappy mode, "We're not trying to hurt him... he's just scared and-"

Then Supergirl picked on a sound of pots and pans hitting the floor in the overside of the kitchen area. The two heroes raced inside, and both had a form of nightvision to see in the dark. Only thing in the large metal area were smashed pans and broken cookingware. One pot had a footprint embedded right into it, as Weylyn picked it up and glanced at it like a pancake.

Kara however, turned her attention to a faint heat signature coming from the cold storage. She tapped Weylyn on the shoulder to get his attention, as his nightvision picked up latent heat coming off fingerprints on the door handle.

"Now we got 'im" he snarled

"Just follow my lead"

Weylyn rolled his eyes, as the two leaned against the door. They heard something faint inside, and Kara could hear Carl's racing heartbeat. She lightly knocked on the door.

"GOOO AWAY!" Carl screamed from inside.

"We can't do that, Carl. There's something wrong and we can help you-"

"NOOOO, JUST STAY AWAAAAY FROM ME! TOO MUCH... NOOOOOISE!

"Carl, what's happening? CARL!?" Kara shouted through the door, only intensifiting his pain.

_"Too much, too_-AAAAAHHHHH" he screamed after mumering to himself.

Every noise was tearing his brain apart, and he could see through the door itself, two skeletal creatures hovering over him. One taller and more monstrous than anything he'd seen in his life.

"Alright, askin' him polite-like hasn't done anything, Kansas" Weylyn said with annoyance at this twerp on the otherside of the door.

"I'll take it from here"

He banged his fist on the door, denting it with his strength.

"YOU'RE COMING OUT... _ONE WAY OR ANOTHER_! DON'T MAKE ME HUFF AND PUFF!"

"LEAVE ME ALOOONE!" Carl screamed, as he cornered himself in the meatlocker, continuing to block out the overload of senses.

"YOU GOT FIVE SECONDS... AND THEN I COME IN AND DRAG YOU OUT!"

"Weylyn!" Kara tried to stop him.

_"1!"_

Kara facepalmed, as she backed up to give Weylyn room.

Carl's heartrate spiked, sweating bullets and trying to fight off the sensory impulses.

_"2!"_

He clutched his head in pain, looking up at the inhuman skeleton coming to get him. For a split-second, between the x-rays and muscle/nerve visions lapsing before Carl's eyes... the creature took the form of the nightmarish man in his dreams. His beaming red eyes pierced his skin like daggers.  
_  
"2 and a Half!"_

Weylyn pulled out a sawed-off shotgun.

"Put that thing away, we're not gonna open fire on him!" Kara screamed to Weylyn. He ignored her as he clicked lever, ready to fire as soon as he smashed down the door.

On the other side, Carl spotted the weapon, pointed right at the door. Finally the visions, the nightmare, and all his out of control senses came to a head. Carl clutched his hands into tightening fists. His muscles became sore as he could feel some kind of power coming over him.

"Weylyn, don't-"  
_  
"5!"_

Carl then focused all his strength, all his senses upon the alien about to come after him.

"YAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" he screamed, as the focused intensity let loose powerful red beams of heat from his optic nerves.

Before Weylyn could kick the door in, the blast from Carl's eyes ripped right through the metal door. The sheer might and intensity knocked the clone renegade off his feet, flying into the stove and knocking down the vent above it as he collided into the appliances.

Kara turned to see Carl racing out of the cold storage. He burst through what was left of the doorway, shredding it to pieces and knocking Supergirl aside as he dashed out the kitchen. He was moving near superhuman speeds now. She looked back in awe, then she got hovered upright and whirrled over to help Weylyn up.

"Uuugh..." he said as he was splayed out upside down on the floor. With Kara giving him a look.

"Whine about your boo-boos later, Come on!" she said, as she flew off after the rampaging Carl.

Weylyn gritted his teeth and cranked his neck as he got up.

"Alrighty then pencil-neck" his growled about Carl as his red eyes beamed with anger. He then sprinted off after Kara, his metal boots stomping all the way while he pulled out a specialzed weapon he remembered from his genetic memories. A gunsword with a bone handle.

"We do this the hard way..."

Carl crashed into the glass, cracking the window that gave a vista into space. He couldn't control his speed now... or the strength of his steps. He could barely stay on the ground as he fled down the halls of the Watchtower. It was like he lost his sense of gravity along with everything else, as his mind raced and felt like exploding.

"Carl!" a voice blisteringly shouted, stopping in his tracks as the world continued to spin out of control around him.

"NOOO, STAY BAAACK!" he clutched his head to block out the overload. He fell to his knees as he turned toward the voice.

"We don't want to hurt you, we only wish to help you" Kaldur tried to calm the boy, as J'onn and Nightwing followed right behind him around the corner. "Let us"

"I DIDN'T MEAN TO... MY HEAD IS JUST... PLEEEAAAASE! MAKE IT STOP!"

"We promise, whatever's happening will make it all go away" Nightwing cautiously stepped forward. Behind his back he was clutching an electric batarang.

Carl however, could see him holding it... through the fluxing visions.

"No, stay... stay away. I DON'T-" he paniced, as Nightwing came closer. He was afraid of getting attacked again, as the other skeletons drew near.

"I DON'T WANT TO HURT ANYBODY!" Carl screamed, as he held out his hands. From his palms a discharge of electricity zapped Nightwing. He felt a short sting as the batarang hidden in his other hand shortcircuited and fell to the floor fried. Kaldur and the Martian Manhunter froze were they stood, as the lights on that section of the Watchtower dimmed and died.

"NOT AGAIN, NOT AGAIN! I'M DOING THIS ON PURPORSE... I SWEAR!"

_"We believe you"_ a voice now said in his head.

"What the-"  
_  
"Do not be alarmed"_ J'onn's mental voice calmed him. For the first time since he awoke, the noise was gone. His vison was still out of balance, but now the pains of every constant noise had faded. Carl began to calm down, his heart rate dropping.

"Kaldur to all on the station" he communicated in, "We have the invidiual contained for the moment. Convene near the balcony of the meeting area."  
_  
"I have made a connection, to which I hope to find out what is causing all this. I ask you now to relax, empty your mind... so that I may try to help you, Mr. Vorne"_

Carl dimly nodded back in the real world, as J'onn hovered closer.

_"I will not hurt you, I simply wish browse your mind for answers, if you approve"_

"I don't care... please make it stop" Carl mentally replied back.

"He will comply" J'onn told Kaldur and Nightwing as they also approached closer.

"What can you make of all this?" Nightwing asked the Manhunter as he closed his eyes, turning white as he began to dig into Carl's mind.

"The damage thus far" Kaldur played detective "Indicates some kind of latent superstrength"  
_  
"He has developed many other extraordinary abilities... superhuman senses. What'd you call heat and x-ray vision, as well as hearing, and ncreased mental and physical speed."_

"This is... sounding distrubingly like a..." Kaldur was putting the pieces together.

"Like a Kryptonian" Nightwing finished. "Were their more clones of Superman we weren't aware of?"

"Scans would have detected genomorph DNA" Kaldur determined from the line of inquisiting.

_"Try to remember what happened today, Mr. Vorne. I need to look at your... wait"_

J'onn felt something wrong. As he neared Carl and placed his hands on his head to increase the mental connection, he detected something in his mind.

Carl had repressed something. Visions flashed in his mind amidst the overload of new abilities racing through his system. The nightmarish images that woke Carl to his powers... the eyes of...

"J'onn, what's happening?" Nightwing beckoned the hero with some concern.

"I-"

Just then a surge of energy discharged into J'onn momentarily as he made direct skin contact.

_"Noooo! STOP! PLEEEEASE MAKE IT STOP!"_

Carl was screaming mentally... and Kaldur and Nightwing could hear it as they clutched their heads in pain.

"You to calm your mind, empty and become-AHHHHHH" J'onn was struck by a mental attack. It now left him reeling in pain like the other two in Carl's vicinity.

_"QUIET, PLEASE MAKE IT STOOOOP!"_ Carl's mental voice screamed once more, as he was now pained by his senses, and the barrage of voices of everyone's minds aboard the Watchtower.

Kaldur took out his gauntlets and created a series of waterwhips to try and contain Carl as he tried to make another break of it. As he fought Carl physically and mentally, another mental scream unleashed a psychic blow that knocked J'onn off his feet and into the already fracturing glass. Nightwing tried to help, as Kaldur attempted to make a whirpool to spin around Carl and incapacitate him.

"STOOOP IT!" Carl screamed, as he let loose a psychic barrier that deflected the water. It splashed all over, as Carl ran as fast as he could, crashing through the closest door. Nightwing and Kaldur raced after him, while M'gann, Superboy and Cyborg arrived in the Meeting room below. Drawn by the pains of Carl's screaming brain.

All five heroes watched as the out of control young man come hurtling off the balcony at breakneck speeds, unable to restrain his superhuman speeds.

But before they could even reat to catch him... M'Gann gasped and looked above in disbelief.

"No... way" Nightwing sputtered, as he and everyone else in the room watched Carl... hovering before them in mid-air.

He was defying gravity, practically laughing at it, as he twisted and twirled to regain his balance. The voices flooding his brain and his senses began to numb as he looked down and saw that he wasn't falling.

In as much shock as the other heroes, he floated there as graceful as... the Man of Steel himself.

"Who the hell is this kid?" Superboy quietyl said to himself, as Carl began to calm his paniced mind. He cracked a small sort of smile, he wasn't scared like when experienced his other new abilities. The heroes just looked on in awe, trying to rationalize how Carl was doing any of this. Also the pause was meant so not to make any sudden moves, and risk him trying to run again.

This was the dream of every boy and girl, young or old... to be able to fly.

But the moment of Carl's relaxed joy from the wonders of human flight... were dashed by the firing of a gun. Carl was startled by the noise, and before he realized where it came from, a metal hook whirrled around his legs like a snare. He was pulled back to the ground with brutish force.  
**  
"GET OVER HERE!"** Weylyn shouted, before bellowing a cackle, as he reeled Carl in with much ferocity.

With a whip of the chain around his arm, Weylyn pulled the struggling Carl down to his level, as he locked the kid in a barehug to keep him from escaping.

"You really don't want to do that!" Nightwing shouted down to the alien clone.

"What's that pretty boy-"

And just like that, the skin contact between Vorne and Weylyn caused more energy discharge, static rippled through the alien. After a jolt, he turned back to the struggling Carl.

He howled with anger as he gave Weylyn a titanic headbutt. It smashed him right into the floor, a crater were once he stood was now were he laid.

"LEEAVE ME ALOOOONE!" he hollared, as he grabbed Weylyn by the throat. He spun the alien about in a whirl, then slammed his body like a ragdoll back into the floor.

Weylyn kicked him off with a thud. The renegade young alien then whipped out the gunblade and blasted at the boy. His skin deflected the shot, it didn't even leave a scratch.

But it did leave a big hole in the shirt the League had given him while in the Med Bay.

Agitated enough, Carl lashed out. But before he could do anything, Cyborg and Superboy grabbed him by the arms and held him back.

"Yo, we could use a little help down here!" Cyborg shouted out to the rest of the Team mates. They all scrambled down to the floor of the meeting room as Carl continued to struggle. Weylyn was starting to shake it off when Carl focused all his energy again on this monster that had been terrorizing him since he woke up.

He was struck with another powerful blast of heat vision. It knocked him right through the main doors of the room as he ripped through the sheer metal and plopped like cement onto the hard floor.

Carl threw Cyborg off his arm with the slightest of ease, hurling him into M'gann and trashing part of the large table in the process. Superboy put both his arms around Carl's neck in a stranglehold.

"I've had just about enough out of all of you!" Carl started to furiously grit his teeth. Some of Weylyn's attitude might have passed off onto him when he added his strength to his own.

The impacts of the smashing inside shook the entire wing of the Watchtower. As Weylyn began to dust himself off and try to get to his feet... the heavy... really heavy... metal doors began to fall. Right on top of him.

"Awww sh-"

Landed right on him like a thud. Swears could be hear, mumbled but loud through the thick metal.

Carl lept right into the air, smashing Superboy into the ceiling as he hung on his back. But Connor wouldn't buck, as Carl levitated back down and went straight back up again and again trying to knock him off.

Eventually M'gann grabbed hold of Carl and Superboy with her telekinesis.

"This ends now!" she shouted up, her eyes green as she hurled Carl into the wall with tremendous thrust, while Connor fell back down to the floor. He landed on his feet with a gruff groan. Carl meanwhile, halted the telekinetic attack, pushing back the force of M'Gann's powers with that of the mental powers he swiped off J'onn.

The Telekinetic collision tore the room apart from the shock. Carl floated above all of them and started letting loose with the heat vision everywhich way. Haphazardly shooting at everything that moved, without control of the ferocity of his optic blasts.

Elsewhere, as Supergirl got J'onn back to his senses, an alert came to her from Red Tornado... after the last shockwave from the fight going on in there.

_"The systems and structural integrity of the satellite are beginning to collapse. If whatever is going on is not corrected, than Watchtower poses the risk of either tearing apart... or falling out of the very orbit._"

"Go" J'onn weakly told Supergirl as he regained his strength. She nodded.

With that foreboding message, Kara zoomed off to try and fix some of the damage that was threatening to throw the headquarters out of geo-synchrinous orbit. That unfortunatly meant leaving everyone else to try and contain Mr. Vorne.

Nightwing dodged a slicing blast into the floor, and proceeded to fire a grapple around Carl's waist to hoist him back down. But as opposed to Weylyn's form of reeling the meta-menace down, he had Kaldur and Cyborg helping him out. Aqualad created a stream like a Giant Squid that gripped Carl, while Cyborg generated nano-tech based snares that shot out and entangled the kid.

The snares likewise as tendrils wrapped around him, as the three tried to bring him down before he continued to go on a rampage.

Kaldur electrified the streams of water, to knock Carl out. The shock barely neutralized him as he struggled to break free, his feet lifting off the ground.

Carl let loose the telekinesis, as he gripped his knuckles and levitated everything in the room, whirling it around like a twister. Chairs and loose metal whirrled around, one nearly knocking Nightwing's head off as he skidded across the floor trying to maintain hold of Carl. Kaldur's electrified streams began to dissapate, while Vorne absorbed the electricity.

Superboy hurtled into the air and struck Carl as hard as he could, to put an end to this. No effect.

He shrugged it off and blasted Superboy with a volley of burning heat vision. M'gann tried to deflect the flying objects as Kaldur and Nightwing began to get hit, knocking them off their feet and loosening the hold they had at restraining Mr. Vorne.

"I DIDN'T WANT THIS!" Carl screamed, as he aggresivly began hurling objects every which way at the Team. "ANY OF THIS!"

With a anguished cry, he unleashed the heat vision... this time without line of sight or aiming directly at anything. Combined with the out of control telekinesis, it went out like a barrage or shockwave as it were. It tore up the meeting room even further, knocking everyone to their asses with great force. It momentarily knocked systems, lights, even Cyborg, for a split couple of seconds.

Carl touches back down to the ground in a fury, out of breath as he looks all around at the heroes now pulling themselves up on the floor.

"I'm getting too old for this" Superboy bemoaned, after having already taken a beating a few hours beforehand. He wiped the blood from his lip, M'Gann, and Kaldur got back up and standing. Nightwing meanwhile helped Cyborg up.

"Carl, this has gone far enough!" M'Gann yelled as she hovered before him, and the other heroes steadily readied for further fighting.

"I-I CAN'T CONTROL IT, NOT ALL AT ONCE! WHAT DID YOU PEOPLE DO TO ME!?"

He smashed his hands together and made a thunder clap that knocked M'Gann out of the air, all while he stopped Batarangs with his mind and flung aside more water streams. Every mental attack was like a needle being put in Carl's brain, like a kneejerk reaction of sight that caused him even more pain.

"Kid, I know your scaried, and freaking out... we haven't exactly helped ease the situation" Superboy admitted with some hesitance. "But you either have to help us, help you, or this how satellite's gonna be torn apart."

"JUST MAKE IT STOOOP, EVERY FIBER OF MY BODY'S SCREAMING, AND EVERYTHING I DO GETS SOMETHING DESTROYED OR SOMEONE HURT! I was fine until I came up here, then I've had all of you attacking me every which way when I begged you to LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"We need you to give us time to" Nightwing tried to finish as he caught his breath.

"I DON'T HAAAVE TIME! I CAN'T LIVE LIKE THIS!" he screamed, as did his mental voice which ripped through everyone in the room. Save Cyborg. But everyone else noted that it was not as strong, as they also saw the levitating objects begin to drop back to the floor. The hovering shrapnel and the mental link were fading... these powers might not be permentant.

"We can't do anything at this point, until you calm down!" Superboy hollared back, tensions were flaring up again, as Carl's eyes turned red from the heat vision.

"THIS IS INS'T ME!" Carl screamed, losing control again.

"The man asked you to calm your ass down!" Cyborg screamed back, as he pointed a sonic cannon at Carl.

"NO! FIX ME NOOOOOW!"

As Carl was about to lung and unleash the heat vision, Nightwing threw a capsule at his head.

_"I'm sorry about this, Carl."_

It exploded in the air and lobbed a glob of adhesive onto his eyes and face. Blocking his attack as it started to harden. His nose and mouth were still free, leaving Carl still able to breath as he fell back down to his knees clawing and screaming. It'd been a rough couple hours, and between being attacked by the Justice League and having your whole body painfully reacting to every little thing (including painful abilities that caused others more pain)...

He was scared, he was angry, he was tired.

Carl tried to calm down, his breath slowed and stopped moving as much. But he could still hear eveyrthing, his extra strength and telepathy were starting to vanish... but the senses were still going crazy. It was about to drive Vorne mad.

The heroes started to close in on him. Nightwing took out a pair of handcuffs.

"We promise will fix this" Superboy told him, like trying to calm a rabid dog after its gotten pinned and your attempting to help it... without getting bit.

But Carl had much worse than bite, because as he started to lose control again and get agittated, his senses about to drive him to wits end. His breathing was still slowed, but now... now his breath was becoming cold. M'Gann could feel the chill coming off Vorne, as she approached him to try and mentally knock him out (now that his psychic abilities appeared to be gone).

"Oh, no" she hesitantly said.

Before she could warn everyone, Carl let out an anguished scream... unleashing a icy gust of freeze breath. Another signature ability of Superman's. It was like a galeforce hurricane wind, mixed with the biting and freezing cold.

It blinded the heroes as the cold froze and ripped apart the already damage part of the Watchtower.

"WHAT HAVE I DOOONE!?" Carl screamed, terrified of his out of control abilities. He started tearing at the hardening riot plastic once more. This time he started trying to blast his way out with heat vision. The cold chill was impassable, as Kaldur tried to contain it, while the others started to feel the icy grip.

The windows started to freezeover.

Then with a painful cry, Carl's heat vision ripped through the plastic meant to restrain him. The blast was powerful enough that it went right through the ceiling and three levels above.

His sight restored, but still confused thanks to the x-ray visions, Carl fled in the chaos leaping with a smash back onto the balcony and out the way he came it, colliding with the wall from his speed and causing further damage. He was scared more than ever.

Kaldur managed to lock onto all the ice and cold with his Atlantean magic. He turned it all into water particles and plummeted it to the floor in a massive puddle.

Every regrouped and walked off the bumps and bruises left by that last tussle with Carl.

"Refresh my memory, didn't we use to win knock-out brawls on the Watchtower?" Nightwing joked.

"We could have handled that all a lot better" M'gann said, while helping Superboy up.

"His powers are more dangerous than anyone of us could have predicted" Kaldur started to surmise, "He not only is gifted with abilities like Superman, he can briefly mimic and copy the meta-abilities of others. At more dangerous and uncontrollable levels."

"We can't can the League for back-up" M'Gann had to point out, "It would be ten-times worse than the League's first encounter with AMAZO."

"Not to mention we don't have the luxury of a four hour battle up here, Watchtower's already taken more damage than she should" Superboy continued. His statement was followed by shaking across the satellite, like whole parts of it were about to give. Kara had most of it to fix, but she was going to need help.

"Then we need to stop him now" Nightwing said as he wiped his brow, "It doesn't matter if he's scared angry kid. He has way too much power at his fingertips, and the longer he runs around unchecked..."

"I am afraid we maybe left with one option" Kaldur then stated bluntly. All eyes turned to him, but Superboy knew exactly what he meant.

"Your not suggesting we..."

"There's a vault in Batman's office. It has a sliver" Nightwing then said. They were suggesting exploiting the Kryptonian's greatest weakness.

"Why am I not suprised" Superboy drawly said.

But before a decision could be made on a last containment protocal for the Kryptonian-like Vorne, Cyborg got everyone's attention.

"Ahhh, we might have more something worse on our hands at the moment."

He pointed everyone to the direction of the glass behind them. It was starting to crack, like ice that's been instantly thrust into warm water. A whole section of the vacuum-proof industrial glass was fracturing faster than anyone could fix it.

"EVERYBODY HANG ON TO SOMETHING!" Nightwing yelled as the heroes all ran for the entrance, or for something sealed on tight enough to grab ahold of.

And then the section of panoramic glass burst open. Sirens and red lights flashed, as the air and occupants of the room were starting to be sucked out.

Nightwing grappled an anchor into the walls outside the main doors, as he held on for dear life as he was being sucked out of the room. As Kaldur began to lose his grasp on the bolted down conference table, Nightwing attempted to fire another grapple line to help him hang on. But the suction was making it hard to fire a straight shot in Aqualad's direction.

The vaccum of space would tear everyone and everything in the room apart unless the breach in the glass was sealed.

As Aquald's grip continued to loosen, so did Superboy's as his fingers dug into the metal floor, holding on for dear life to them and to M'Gann.

Cyborg's feet scraped along the floor, as he was firing off his thrusters to try and fight the vaccum that was pulling him.

"Anybody got any bright ideas!?" Cyborg screamed at the top of his lungs, his synthetic vocals screeching over the sound of the suction, and station alarms.

"It's not a good one" M'Gann hollared back, _"But's are only chance"_ she mentally continued. Kaldur, Dick, and Connor were all psychically synched in as she filled them in on the plan.

"Someone want to fill me in!?" Cyborg screamed as his thrusters began to lose power, forcing him to dig into the floor by shifting his hand into a hook. His cybernetics made his half-robotic brain immune to the mental powers of Martians.

"The whole psychic walkie-talkie don't work on me, guys!"

"When we give you the word, blast it with your sonic cannon!" Kaldur yelled back in reply, as the others readied to make their move.

"Blast what?!" Cyborg continued to question, as his grip began to loosen alongside the others.

"You'll know!" Nightwing screamed as he struggled to keep a hold of a special birdarang he got from his utility belt, while still holding onto the grappler in his other hand holding him steady. Kaldur had similar problems with table, as well as the Atlantean water projectors on his harness he now took hold of. Meanwhile, M'Gann took Superboy's arm as they prepared for her to be thrown.

Cyborg saw the four of them exchange glances as they each readied to make their moves, in a daring effort to seal the breach into space from killing them all.

"Oh three..." M'Gann shouted to those mentally present in the room above to cave in on itself.  
**  
"THREE!"** the founding members yelled back in unison.

On that note, their plan went into swift effect. M'Gann hurled Connor into the air, letting him go as he zoomed upward. Then Nightwing threw his birdarang, while M'Gann and Kaldur let go of their footings and holdings... about to be sucked in by the breach.

While M'Gann psychicaly focused all her power into directing the trajectory of the birdarang, Superboy reached the ceiling of the room, as he he grabbed onto a chunk of the rocky meteor that the Watchtower was carved from. Connor used all his strength to pull down on the rock piece, ripping it off the ceiling and throwing it down, right into the suction path

Cyborg quickly caught on to what everyone was trying to do. With his Sonic Cannon armed, he targeted the meteor chunk and sliced it down with two precision blasts. Cut down now to a square and symmetrical size, large enough to cover the gap. But a rock alone wouldn't hold it. Which is why M'Gann directed Nightwing's birdarang into a panel in the wall, the thickest part of the metal walling.

An explosion knocked it clean of as a large section flew outward, nearly hitting Superboy as he came toppling down, drawn in by the suction of the breach. With the side of the wall now thrown into the meteorite chunk and lodged on the growing breach in the glass, Cyborg quickly helped out by switching to a more intricate laser array on his arm. One he used to heat the metal and seal it to the metal lining between the space-proof glass.

Kaldur used his water streams to coat and seal it all nice and tight... in a hunk of ice. With that, the sucction of the room returned to normal, as everyone save for M'Gann, landed hard into the floor with the return of gravity. Nightwing reeled his grappler back in while the others got to their feet.

"MOVE!" Kaldur shouted, they weren't out of danger quite yet. Everyone now raced out of the room through both entrances.

With the main doors to the meeting room collapsed in, the station was still vulnerable to the breach, once the icy seal eventually broke. Cyborg jettisoned up the balcony with Superboy right behind him, to check up on J'onn who was still up there. Meanwhile Kaldur, M'Gann, and Nightwing raced out the front doors.

They activated emergency systems on control panels in the hall, sealing off that part of the station with airtight blastdoors. As they hurried back into the asembly room, M'Gann was startled by the re-emergence of Weylyn. He growled as she helped him him up, lifting the heavy doors off him (that had previously knocked him unconcious a during the fight and the breach).

"What'd I miss?" he snarled as he rubbed his head.

"Unless Czarnians can breath in the vaccum...you might want to clear the room!" Nightwing shouted as he shot a grapple up towards the balcony. He zipped up as M'Gann and Kaldur leaped up after him. Weylyn got to his feet and dusted himself off, but with one groggy look at the cracking space-proof glass in front of him... he put two and two together.

"For frak's sake!" he moaned as he stomped into the conference room, knocking chairs and other debris out of his way like a battering ram. He then hurtled up to the balcony with one giant leap as he plopped down boots first and zoomed through the entrance way with a skid.

With him clear, Superboy hit an activation code into systems panel and sealed the entrance tight. The heroes all caught their breaths as the red alarms on that part of the tower beeped off. For now the breach was sealed and safe from sucking everyone into the oblivion of space.

"Never a dull moment, with you people!" Weylyn said as he thumped down on his boot, tired and cranky.

"Sadly, no" M'Gann said as she creaked her neck.

"Okay... now that we're not at risk of getting our eyeballs sucked out of our sockets" Cyborg put every so descriptivly, "Anybody want to tell me what just happened in there!?"

All eyes turned to Weylyn, who sat dumbfounded and looked up see the glares.

"Ahhh... My bad" he shrugged.

"We'll discuss him later" Nightwing returned to the matter at hand "Right now we gotta find Carl before he does any more damage..."

"He passed me before the breach occured, I could sense he already lost the Martian mental abilities he absorbed. Superman's were still as powerful as when awoke, however" J'onn told the young heroes as he rose to his feet. He then pointed out the damage left behind in the hall... footprints and dented walls.

"Wait, I thought y'all said he could only mimic superpowers? How could still have Superman's, if Weylyn's and Manhunter's have already faded?" Cyborg was confused.

"His new abilities allow him to absorb metahuman powers, which for the moment don't seem to last long" J'onn explained what he sensed. "But I fear that due to the radioactivity he absorbed from the Kryptonite... the Kryptonian abilities he acquired have hardened into his system."

"Ya mean he could permanently have the powers of Superman? Plus the occasional side-power just by touching any one of us!?"

"Have I mentioned how I really hate metagenes?" Superboy flatly lamented, as the rest of the young heroes agreed at the unfairness of the science behind meta abilities.

"Okay, we need a new gameplan" Nightwing stated, just as a call came in on his holowrist computer... from the main control room of the Watchtower

_"Red Tornado to Nightwing. I've detected emergency alarms shutting down near your location."_

"We're all here, Red" he responded, "Had a little incident with sealing a rupture in the space-glass in the conference room. The entire part of the tower's been sealed off.

_"Unfortunatly I have to report that that is the least of our concerns. The Zeta Beams are offline due to the outages aboard the station"_

"Might want to tell the robot there, that the last thing we need up here is MORE superpowers for that walking sponge!" Weylyn proclaimed. Nightwing glared and ignored him with a head nod.

"Also means WE can't evacuate." M'gann then pointed out to the chalk-skinned alien.

"Oh." it settled in for a moment for Weylyn. _"Ohhh..."  
_  
"There is also the matter of several other breaches around the station. No doubt caused by the heat vision blasts detected down there. Supergirl has tried to seal them herself, but the quantity alone of them, combined with system failures, has caused the station to begin to lose geosynchrinous orbit..."

"You might have tried to start with that!" Kaldur said through the communicator.

_"How exactly does listing critical failures, by the weight of their severity, change the situation's outcome?"_

"Ahhh, nevermind." no point arguing with a robot, Nightwing realized "Just do what you can from your end... we'll try to do what we can to keep the Watchtower from crashing."

"That would be wise. Since no one else aboard can upload their conciousness into another body. Red Tornado out."

"What about Carl?" Superboy then asked.

"He'll be dead like the rest of us if we don't get the station back into orbit, and all the ruptures sealed!" Nightwing reiterated. "He's just gonna have to wait."

"I'll see what I can do to help Red Tornado" Cyborg then stepped up to assist.

"Superboy, Kaldur, and I can do what we can to seal whatever else is leaking" Nightwing explained the new gameplan.

"We can only hope that Carl is not hiding in one of the sections of that needs to be sealed" Kaldur sighed. The kid running around the station was still an issue, but not a priority given the severity of the entire Watchtower's collapsing orbit.

"Right" M'Gann nodded, "J'onn and I can try to do some work outside. Supergirl'd be a major help too"

"Just give me a helmet and I'll join the spacewalk!" Weylyn openly clasped and rubbed his hands in excitement.

"NO" Superboy laid the boom down on the clone, "You'll help Cyborg get systems back up and running."

"Ah, I'm kinda better along the lines of smashing machines, not exactly sure why you'd want we fixing them..."

"Consider this time-out" Nightwing snidely commented with a look. "Just go and get it down, we all got jobs to do!"

As Weylyn gritted his teeth, the other heroes run off in seperate directions to do what needed to be done, leaving him and Cyborg alone standing in the hallway.

Before Cyborg could open his mouth, Weylyn didn't even need to look at him when he replied back in a huff "Just don't."

"Whatever, man. Just stick tight and... try to help me and Tornado with the systems. I guess." Cyborg didn't like the idea of being paired with Weylyn, anymore than he did. Especially when the whole station was at risking of going down in flames. Just then, power began to shutter off in their part of the station. _"Time out, huh..."_ he growled under his breath. A split second of darkness

"We better get mov-" when Cyborg turned to the Czarnian, the emergency red lights beamed on... and Weylyn was gone.

"Oh perfect!" he grumbled. Turned his head in all directions, with no sign of the renegade clone. "Man, I am not his babysitter" he then angrily said to himself as he then contacted Red Tornado to give him the word he was on the way up to help. Weylyn wasn't his problem, whatever trouble he was now stirring up.

_"Kara, come in"_ Superboy called her in over the League comm channel.

"I'm here... and I heard it all from Red" she replied, as she sealed a bulkhead with her heat vision. She already used that and her superstrength to seal as many ruptures in the hull as she could.

_"We need you to suit and head outside on the double. M'Gann and J'onn will need your help... even their telepathy can't hold back a station this size"  
_  
"Holy schtoko" her Kryptonian slipped by after hearing that last note. The Watchtower's orbit rested on her strength. No pressure or anything.

_"You can does this Kara. It's why Superman and Adam Strange had you trained for Zero-G"_

"I'm on it! Supergirl out." she responded back swiftly, but not without a faint gulp in. Then she zoomed down the halls sealing the doors behind her to contain that part of the station. "It's not the gravity I'm worried about, Kr" she said to herself.

In five minutes, as more alerts flarred across the satellite, Kara was suited up in a space suit. A little tight, mind you, since it was a hammy-down from Artemis repainted to match her colors. Don't ask.

Supergirl hauled butt to the nearest airlock and with some apprehension... she closed her eyes and opened the airtight doors. She was shot out into space like a cork from a bottle. Tumbling and tossing for a few moments, she got her composure and her space-faring legs instantly. Kryptonians are as light and flight-capable in space as they are in atmospheres ruled by a yellow sun's radiation.

Kara laughed to herself in the privacy of her breathing helmet. She let out a roar of excitment as she circled up and around the satellite and through the vaccum. She could see alot of damage and holes the Watchtower had taken from this vantage point outside. She could also see it was rapidly destabilizing orbit-wise, coming closer and closer the straosphere of Earth.

After shooting around the station like a rocket, she finally caught up to the Martians (who shifted flimsy but effective breathing appartuses for unlimited air). Plus side of being a shapeshifter.

"On your left!" Kara channeled into the pair of Martians, as she shot past while they remained floating in space.

"Good, now here's the basic plan. You push, we pull!" M'gann replied back as she and J'onn got into position at key points around the station, using special rocket boosters to help them in zero gravity.

After a nosedive and a cartwheel, Kara zoomed back down and throttled fists first into the side of the station, the side facing the planet that'll burn up first if it all comes crashing down. "Ready when you two are!"

The martians' eyes turned white as they focused on the station and began pulling on it with their telepathic powers.  
_  
"I think I can, I think I can, I think I can"_ she silently said, almost like a prayer and less like a reassurance. Kara then dug her hands into the bare rock of the Watchtower and started to push.

The entire station shook and rattled as the three attempted to slow it down, force it to a stop.

Kaldur and Nightwing raced across every section of the station they could, sealing up breachs and other shortcircuiting systems.

Connor did the heavy lifting, forcing parts to seal by hand. The metal hulls were like aluminum foil the way he stretched and ripped them to keep it all holding together, and tightly sealed no less.

"We're practically putting band-aids over open wounds at this point!" Connor said in a hurried tone.

"It is up to Kara and M'gann, then" Kaldur replied back as he ripped out the wiring to keep a bay door closed.

"Trying to reroute everything but life support into booster rockets" Cyborg told the robot next to him as he waded through the crashing computer systems, his fingers going hyperfast while processing part of it mentally in his brain.

_"Boosters are unresponsible, destabilization of the Watchtower continues at a rate of 15.0863% per-" _Red Tornado attempted to explain before he was cut off.

"Not helping!"  
_  
"I'm begining to come to that statistical conclusion, today."_

Amidst the madness going on in and around the Watchtower, as things began to critically rise in temperature, Weylyn was on the hunt. The cloned renegade was skulking the halls with his heavy clanking boots, sniffing the air. Something caught his nose, and sent him running down the red-lighted hallway... smiling.

Outside the station, Kara struggled to grind it to a halt with her superstrength. The martians faired now better as even their telekinesis barely seemed to be stopping the deceleration, so much as it threatened to tear the Watchtower appear. Tempatures rose as it came closer and closer to entering the stratosphere.

"Kara, this isn't working!" M'gann radioed in, struggling to move the station from its current path. "I think we need to call in the Bio-Ship. It maybe be able to get here before-"

"NOOO!" she screamed back "WE CAAAN DO THIS! JUST_ PUUUUULLLL!" _

She groined and huffed as she put eveyrthing she had into pushing at the station. Her muscles were aching, and her spacesuit was beginning to heat up. The Earth was inching closer and closer, as the Watchtower was picking up speed.

"Come on... BUUUUDGE!" she roared as she crushed all her strength into the satellite.

Inside the inner portion of the Watchtower, in the memorial garden where few except the League have come to pay tribute... Carl was crouched over on his knees, clutching his ears in pain.

"Make it stop, make it stop" he murmered as alarms continued. From the view out the window, the Earth was coming staggeringly closer and closer. But amidst the overload of sounds and senses, one noise brought Carl out of his scared stupor on the floor.

Heavy stomping boots.

He flipped as he turned around to see the white alien towering over him once more. Muscles and skeleton were exposed and made him even more monstrous.

"Hi, I'm Weylyn." the alien then announced. But it wasn't sarcastic, it was more an uneasy tone that now confused Carl.

"Pleease... just... don't" Carl nearly begged, as he attempted to keep his distance with the overload of his senses in this alien's presence.

"Relax! I'm too damn tired to start all that over again" Weylyn sighed, as he took the gunblade over his shoulder and dropped with a kerklunk on the floor. Carl just inched away from him, confused and unnerved. His senses still out of control.

But Weylyn just kept his distance, holding his hands up... as his red eyes met Carl's and he just sat. Down on the floor. He tapped his hands, fumbling what to say. He was good at sarcasm, or yelling. Not real conversations with anyone that wasn't blonde (Kara and Cissie).

"So. Having a bad day?"

The station continued to violently shake inside and out, M'gann and J'onn strained their psyches attempting to halt. Cracks continued in the hull, segments of the meteorite rock began to fragment off. It was getting hard to slow any part of the Watchtower, even harder to focus on pulling this thing and keep up their shapeshifting (that's giving them breathing appartuses).

_"COME..."_

Kara felt like her whole body was screaming, her fingers were on fire.

**_"OOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNN!"_**

Just then the screetching and rattling of the very station's hull... stopped. Within miles of the upper stratosphere, Kara had done it.

"Heh... ha... ha ha... that's more like it, you stubborn son of a... HA HA!"

_"Kara, come in!"_ Cyborg said over the commincations. _"De-celeration, it's going down... going... going..."_  
_  
"Stabilizing." _Red Tornado read across the computer systems on his screen.

"HA HA HAAAA! YEEEAH!" Kara hooted and hollared.

"I wouldn't be celebrating yet" J'onn radioed in. "Now that we got a hold on the Watchtower..."

"Less talking, more pulling" Kara commed back to the Martian. Then with a heavy push, she began to budge the station from her end. Now that the three had grinded the decelerating orbit, J'onn and M'gann had an easier time using their powers to bring the station towards them. Kara was like a giant barge, and the Martians finally managed to act as the tugboats for the Watchtower, with their telekinesis.

**Siegelville, Florida  
June 20, 2017  
2:48pm EST**

"Do I really have to wear this stupid thing?" Kara asked, as they turned the corner of the block. She was fidgiting with a brown wig to hide her natural blonde hair.

"Supes just wanted to take the precaution" Ronnie explained for the uptenth time, "I mean you did tear this place apart barely a month ago."

"They seemed to fix up it pretty... fast" she pointed out, while adjusting her glasses. Half of the damage caused by the fight with Livewire was fixed. Several houses were still under repair around the block, he sidewalks were still cracked from the impact left by the battle, not to mention the town didn't have the budget to repair the holes left in the broken street.

"If they spotted anyone of us during the clean-up after a villain smackdown, we'd be sued right and left to cover the insurance!"

"Oh, please" Kara rolled her eyes.

"I'm just saying, let's just not push our luck" Ronnie said as the two continued on down the neighborhood, upon this sunny Florida afternoon. Then a thought popped into Supergirl's head.

"Wonder Girl doesn't have to wear a wig. Nightwing has a domino mask for crying out loud, and yet he doesn't dye his hair just to go buy milk!"

"It's complica-"

"Even Connor gets away with walking around in public, and most times he's wearing the same logoed shirt he fights bad guys in!" Kara stubbornly said back in defense.

"Heh-heh... I'm _not_ opening that can of worms" Ronnie wasn't about to argue with a teenage girl, of any planet. "All that aside, you want to explain to me then who in their right mind is gonna be fooled by just a pair of glasses for a secret identity!?" he snorted in derision.

"You'd be suprised" Kara wryly replied back, stopping Ronnie mid-laugh as he mulled that thought over. He just shook his head and tried get back to business as they reached Carl Vorne's apartment.

"Let's just try to take it slow with him." Ronnie cautiously reminded Kara. "He's a little volitile, and we can't be sure all his abilities have been neutralized by the inhibitor..."

"Rattled might be the appropirate word, scared even. He's not volitile" Kara then flat-out stated, while Ronnie sighed.

"He'll be little calmer now, I'm sure. What with Weylyn's abilities now out of his system..." Kara tried joked in reply.

"I'm being serious, here! The League's already divided enough on what we should do about him!"

"I know... I distinctly remember you voicing your opinion back in the meeting" she said aggressivly.

"Oh, that's what this is about. Kara, the kid needs to adjust to a dangerous amount of powers. He just got over..."

"Being attacked by half the Justice League for having a bad reaction to superpowers... he never had before" Kara butted in.

"All the more reason I just don't think throwing him back into the fray, inhibitor or not, will be beneficial to anyone!"

"Suppose you'd prefer we lock him up instead, like that Lantern suggested!" she said with a huff as she walked faster.

"I'm not taking Guy Gardner's side, Kara please!"

"He's just a kid caught in really bad situation. Are we suppose to treat him like a criminal?!" she screamed in a whispered tone as they neared the entrance to the apartment housing.

"Utill he gets control, we just have to keep all eyes we have on him... make doubly sure that he doesn't go rogue with all the power he has in his fingertips. And superheroing might be detrimental to that..."

"I wish you people would relax! I'll admit he needs training, LOTS of training... but that doesn't mea-a-a-ahhhh, CARL!"

Kara was stopped cold in her tracks as she and Ronnie stepped on the porch. The front door was wide open and standing in the doorway was Carl Vorne... or at least Ronnie and Kara assumed it was him.

He was healed up for sure since the incident with Livewire (that left him scarred and charred black with intense burns). But now, with the addition of a yellow streak in his hair... Carl Vorne was healed as well as looking much more muscular. Ripped enough to give Superboy a run for his money, if you know what I mean.

"Su-Supergirl?!" he said with some suprise as he hesitated to greet the two of them. "Is that... What's ahhh, with the-"

He pointed to her wig.

"Oh, oh-this stupid thing, heh heh... little much, I know. Civilian clothes, sorry" she stammered to explain "We just wanted to... check you o-ah, I MEAN check up on you!" Carl feebly nodded, "The glasses looks nice... err. I mean" while Raymond facepalmed. Teenagers he thought, as he could feel the awkard tension in the air.

"You do look better than last we saw, I have to admit" Ronnie chalantly stated regarding Carl's current condition, after clearing his throat to get their attention.

"Thanks... I guess. I'd like to say that this is just me working out" pointed to his abs. Kara notted. "Kryptonians have that effect when it comes to yellow sunlight and Earth-like gravity"

She pulled out her arm and rolled up her sleeve, showing even for a teenage girl she was packing some strong arms.

"But ever since the League cleared me, I've... I thought you said the inhibitor was gonna make all my powers go away?!"

Kara and Ronnie both looked at each other.

"You mean they haven't?" Ronnie then asked.

"It's not like my brain feels like its exploding, my senses are normal... but... the strength is still in me! And I can leap tall buildings in a single bound even if the inhibitor stops me from flying away with each step!"

"Oh boy" Ronnie sighed to himself.

"You knew this might happen?!"

"We were afraid of it." Kara tried to calmly explain, as Carl turned and entered the apartment complex.

"As the Doc put it, there were" she he airquoted Dr. Martin Stein "concerns that the metagenes in your body, irradiated by the Kryptonite, could remain permenant despite the absorbing properties... ah, prop-prop... ah Carl" Before he continue, Kara and Ronnie peered in to see that the living room had seen better days. "What happened in here?" Kara then asked, while picking up some of the broken furniture, everything else was equally in shambles... possibly from Vorne in a rage-induced state.

"I've been having trouble sleeping" Carl feebly admitted.

"I'll bet" Ronnie puckishly stated, stepping over a couch that had torn in half.

"At least the good news at the moment is that... the inhibitor Dr. Palmer and Dr. Stein built is... mostly working" Kara said while looking around the kitchen, most of the handles have broken off and the sink has been bent, literally the metal bent in with bare hand prints to stop it from leaking.

"That's just great, my senses are normal but I'm still a walking disaster! Mostly isn't gonna fix any of this... my roommates are gonna go ballisitic!" Carl dropped his head in anguish, as he plopped down on the carpet and sat like a kindergartner in time-out.

"Look, this isn't your fault and it's not the end of the world" Ronnie tried to console him "Will get somebody to fix this before anyone comes back... and in the meantime will have to find better living conditions for you."

"I'm not going back up on that Watchtower!" he was quick to point out.

"No, no... No Watchtowers!" Ronnie was quick to agree with Carl, he saw the damage he caused with all of his powers uninhibited and absorbed. "It'll be Earthside kid. Cross my heart! It's just, gotta be somewhere more... ah, what's the word?"

"Well-built?" Kara said, while trying to not focus on Carl's biceps peeking out of the neckline in his shirt.

"I was gonna say secluded" he replied with a glare.

"What about school, I mean the commute, do I have use that Zeta tube things, and what if all my powers come back, what if I-I..."

"Deep breaths, Carl. Just take a deep breath" Kara said putting a hand on his shoulder, as he started to get himself worked up. Her comfort started to calm the boy (rather large boy now) right down.

Still in a rut and looking down as ever, Kara decided to sit on the carpet right next to him to try and get him to look at her directly.

"I know we promised things would get better Carl, but if it isn't already clear" looking around at what remained of the apartment, "There are alot of things your gonna have to adjust to."

"First time I ever have the backbone to stick up for something, for somebody... and now everything's gone to hell. People call me that freak that got electrocuted" Obviously the League downplayed his injuries to the public, but it was newsowrthy enough for all of the usual 15 minutes. Made him an even bigger target for the people that tended to harass and taunt him.

"I can't go two steps without...looking like a freak, I mean..." he somberly said, "Look at me!"

"Yeah... look at him Kara" Ronnie sardonically quipped about Carl's new physique, earning Kara's ere now. With a sigh, Ronnie sat down on the carpet right next to Carl, (given that the other seats in the place were smashed), with both heroes now beside him trying to comfort him.

"We still meant what we said about everything getting better." Kara continued to try and cheer the kid up "It's just, sometimes when really bad things happen... things we can't control... We'd like nothing more than to go back to the way things were before it did, to the way we liked them. But that's not how things work. We have to adapt and change with it, make it work for the better."

"Some of us do know how it feels..." Ronnie tried to enter into the pep talk, but Carl cut him off,

"No... you don't! I'm... I'm sick of everyone in a stupid cape telling me they can all relate, and that they know how I'm feeling. THEY DON'T! And I'm just... just... AHHH!"

With that bit of ranting and steam let out, Carl slammed his head back into the floor with a groan, his hands on his face as he wallowed in self-pity, though quite rightly tired of the platitudes from all the superheroes he's met. The whole apartment shook from that impact on the floor.

Ronnie was a little put-off by the rude interruption, and Carl's attitude. But he accepted it given the kid's situation.

"I'm not like any of them, I'm... I'm just a loser who nearly got himself killed trying to play hero! All because he thought he'd impress a gi-gah-oh...ahh...AUGH!" he groaned even louder after stopping himself, but Kara was growing a little red in the cheeks by his near admission. Carl bolted up and stomped out of the living area.

"Carl, wait!" Kara tried to stop him. Ronnie begrudingly followed after the two, rolling his eyes.

Vorne slammed his bedroom door, what was left of it anyway, given that top corners of it and the handle had broken off. "Let me" Ronnie said as he stepped in front of Kara before she could try and get him to come out, all while she twisted her hair in frustration.

He then knocked on the door. Ronnie sitting beside his bed, the mattress springs and half of it ripped over after Carl accidently tore it apart reaching for the bedsheets.

"I guess you are tired of all the Everything's gonna be alrights and Not to Worries... but just listen to one more, a genuine one. I know your scared and your tired of all that's happening around you, feels like you've lost control of everything! Seven years ago this was me Carl, it really was. Mind you, I wasn't one of the smart kids in the room, who stayed quiet most of the time... I was one of the loud jerks. The kid slacking off, wasting his potential and just not giving a damn. The one minute I did, was the one that caught me facefirst in a nuclear blast."

Carl picked his head up, a little disturbed and intrigued by this admission from Mr. Raymond.

"God that was a brutal time. I had dangerous powers, Carl. REAL dangerous. I was just scared to death I was some walking bomb, that I could never set foot outside again. But instead of hiding out forever, I faced it head on. I had to admit I couldn't pretend everything would go back to normal... I had real good friends to help me. To harness and control my powers rather than hide or wait for them to blow up in my face! Wasn't overnight, but took as long as it needed."

Carl was letting this settle in for him, as Ronnie opened up about his origins.

"I got a better handle on my abilities, more than when I first woke up and had a real bad day. Beating up supervillains and aliens sure has helped to that effect... though it doesn't work as well for others"

Kara shrugged, not really understanding where Ronnie was going with this.

"Ah, but I digress... l-look, Carl. I was not much of a team player, and I wanted nothing more than to get back to normalcy if you can call it that. Took a real push like one right here, to get me into fighting crime and all that. If you don't want any part of it that's fine... but that inhibitor isn't gonna make everything all better again. If you want to open up, to let people help you rather than hide away... then. You know where to find us. So that's- that's all I gotta say."

Ronnie then leaned off the wall after that little spiel and heading back out into the living room, Kara (quite confused) followed after him.

_"Th-thank you... for giving him a chance"_ she whispered.

_"He warmed up to me, I guess. He's not a loser..."_

_"You think he'll go along with it?_  
_  
"Hopefully" _whispered back as they both waited by the door. _"I'm not saying he's ready for the League, but I guess being around all of us could be good for him. He could use some real friends... even some weird ones"_

"_Was a good speech anyway, least till the end"_

_"Thanks, I... what's that, again?"_

_"I mean, hamming it up a bit, weren't you?"_

_"What do you mean? I was in his shoes as a rook..."_

_"Yeah, but not for as long as you made it out. Raquel was telling us all how you were the one pushing Dr. Stein into superheroing... like from day one"_  
_  
"Well she's a damn liar"_  
_  
"Jock straps and a red wrestling helmet was your first costume?"_

_"I swore that woman to secre-"_

Their silent conversion was halted by the sound of Carl's bedroom doors opening. Carl stammered out, awkward even in his newly super-strong state. He was rubbing his arm where the inhibitor was, strapped around him like an armband.

"I'll... I'll give it a shot, I guess. I'm not... not... I'm just not a hero..."

"Anyone can be a hero" Kara told him, his eyes lit up as he held his head up to face her.

"It's one of the reasons we wear masks, to aspire anyone to do good..." Kara continued.

"Well, one of the main reaso-OUCH!" Kara jabbed him in the arm, nearly knocking the wig off her head with the whirl. It cracked a grin out of Carl, a small one. But the first real one in a good while since he came home.

"Trust us, kid. You'll be in good company. And you won't be afraid of what you can or can't do" Ronnie then said, as Carl was starting to swoop back into his lowly stupor.

"You know any good places to eat?" Kara then asked, which picked Carl right back up.

"Eat... ah, yeah OH YEAH! Tony Daniels' makes the best Pizza this side of New York!" Carl was eager more than ever to catch a bit to eat, especially with Supergirl.

"I suppose we could we all get a slice or two, I don't have to be back on Duty till"

"Oh, ahh all three of-oh course. Heh" Carl tried to brush off what he was really thinking. "Yeah, yeah. The three of... sounds good, great good!"

"We can figure where it is you can live, and finish up this semester." Kara explained.

"Mostly just final papers, and I wrote them all so it's no..."

"Wait, you finished **all** your final term papers? Already?" Ronnie stopped him to ask.

"It's only five classes... why?"

"I'd have needed more than an electrocution to get me working that good, the first year" Ronnie half-laughed to himself, Carl nervously laughed back.

"Guess you weren't far off about him being the smart guy in the room." Kara smiled

"Regular brainiac" Ronnie replied.

"It's nothing, really"

"Learn to take a compliment, first lesson as part of the Team... I suppose" Ronnie tried to drill into him, to promote this serious new business Carl was about to enter.

"So, wanna head out?" Kara asked.

"Yeah, it's not that far away."

"Not like we were gonna fly!" Kara joked.

"I know that Supergirl, I was just-"

"You can... call me Kara" she corrected. He nearly had a coniption.

"I... I, may I? I can... oh wow. That's a beautiful na-" Ronnie was in the teenage lovey-doevey angst. Before Carl could say anything to dig himself into a deeper hole of awkwardness, something struck him.

"Wait, I left something back in my... just give a second to go get it!" Carl fumbled with his feet as he asked the heroes to wait a second. He hurried back to his bedroom and ripped open the door. It feel off the hinges and slammed to the floor. Carl could only groan and hang his head.

"Will wait outside!" Ronnie than astutly told him. As he blase gave a thumbs up and skulked on into his bedroom to find whatever it is he needed.

The two heroes let out two seperate exhaustive noises.

"This kid's gonna need a lot of work." Ronnie sighed.

"He just needs a little confidence building..." Kara said, but she knew he was awkward and very shy. The last couple weeks have rocked his world and forced him to embrace a new more extrovert lifestyle.

"Well he's got everything else well built up, but you already seemed to notice" Ronnie snickered.

"And what is that suppose to mean?"

"Oh, Kara... even you have to admit that was shameless! The way you were oogling him with your eyes!"

"Shut up! I wasn't... I'd never..." she was ready tp slug him in the shoulder, especially if Carl heard.

"Oh boy, this kid doesn't know how lucky he really has it! Keeps the brains and gets the muscles that'll make any girl go all-a-twittah!" She did punch him in the arm.

"Would you stop it!"

"Starting to think you really didn't need me. I mean that's one way to get him out of his shell I suppose!"

"It's not like that! He's just a sweet kid, I guess... and I owe him my life. No one's ever risked their life for me like that... and now he's just sooo... wait... why AM I TELLING YOU THIS?!"

Ronnie could hardly hold back the laughter at Supergirl's expense.

"Just what, Kara? You act like he's the first guy you've ever-HOLD IT" Ronnie had an epiphany.

"I don't like that look on your face" Kara's eyes squinted as a devlish smile crossed Firestorm's face.

"Kara... tell me he's not the first guy you've ever... I mean you had boyfriends back on..." Kara couldn't look him straight in the eys "Oh... oH HO HOOO! HA HA HA HAAAA!"

Kara was instanly mortified as she hung her head and shook it. Ronnie had just deduced that Kara, had never officially dated. On Earth or on Krypton (before the destruction and the stasis pod).

"Are you quite finished?" she had to ask rolling her eyes, angrily, as Ronnie continued laughing at her.

"Almost-ahahahaha-almost!" Ronnie waved her off as he tried to catch a breath.

"Ronald" Kara presumptly said, which got Ronnie's undivided attention as he wiped the tears from his eyes, "If you say but one word to Carl about any of this I swear I'll"

"I can think of million things you could do to itimidate me, Supergirl" he said to try and calm her down, "Relax, I'm just messing with you a little!"

"Wouldn't be so funny if I laughed like a hyena about yours and Raquel's lovelife... would it?" She was referring to their prior relationship, a very complicated one, before they got married. It was a cheapshot, and Kara knew it... but she wouldn't show outright that she regretted playing that card.

Ronnie didn't take that last comment too kindly, given how messy it was and how many in the League know about. "Point taken" was all he then flatly said, the humor gone and replaced with a tense atmosphere.

"Good" Kara replied back.

This was gonna be a long lunch.

"I was just as suprisied as you wear about how... he looked. As a member of the opposite sex, I could have handled it better. That's all, end of story."

"Fine..." Ronnie then said.

_"that's all"_ his voice echoed in Carl's ear. Oh yes, he could hear that little conversation in its entirety. His senses and absorption abilities were dimmed with the inhibitor, but he still had low capacities of super-hearing and heat vision... alongside his strength.

Carl heard them when they first arrived, from a block away, and he heard what Kara thought of... no he heard what Ronnie made her think of him. Belittleing him, not realy trusting him. Twisting Kara's true feelings for him. He could see the smirk and cockiness on his face through the walls. He really was one of the jerks in high school, the kind he still deals with even at Shuster College.

After that last comment from Supergirl, Ronnie smashed the smartphone in his hands to tiny pieces. Right in the palm of his hand, while gritting his teeth in frustration.

"Will just see about that... **Kara**" he then said to himself as he cleaned off his hands and threw the broken pieces on the floor. He stormed out the bedroom, past a broken mirror and a closet in the corner. But as he entered the hall he composed himself. Put on a big dorky smile and got into character.

Everything you'd need to know about the real Carl Vorne could be found in that closet of his... dozens if not hundreds of photographs. Ripped from magazines, printed from websites, stolen and hacked from the phones of pedestrians, or flat-out just photoshopped from rather adult sites to equate some really risque displays.

They were all of Supergirl. All the way back to when she first arrived on Earth.

Carl's been following her alot longer than anyone could have possibly realized. Especially not Kara herself, or even Carl's mental adversary Ronnie Raymond, as they each walked side by side with him to get a slice of pizza.

Maybe we're just blowing things out of proportion. It's just a rather unhealthy crush on Supergirl... it's not like he has the power to do anything dangerous about it... if his affections were rebuffed... or if anyone stood in his...

_Oh, boy._


End file.
